Watch Lindsey Graham Absolutely Lose His Shit Over Abortion

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham used to say that abortion is a state's rights issue. That is, until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year—and Graham started pushing for a federal ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

But when CNN asked him about whether abortion is a federal issue on Sunday, he lost it.

“What the Democratic Party proposes on abortion is barbaric,” Graham told CNN’s Dana Bash when he appeared on the program State of the Union, just days after the Supreme Court ruled to keep a safe and effective abortion pill on the market. “Abortion up to the moment of birth, taxpayer-funded—I think is barbaric. I welcome this debate. I think the Republican Party will be in good standing to oppose late-term abortion, like most of the civilized world.”

“It’s a human rights issue,” he added.

Graham’s characterization of Democrats’ position on abortion is misleading. Most states, including ones governed by Democrats, have limits on abortions before or at viability, which generally occurs at around 24 weeks of pregnancy. And while abortion opponents like to say that Roe v. Wade allowed abortions up until the moment of birth, that is also inaccurate: The landmark decision, overturned last year, established that pregnant people have the right to an abortion up until viability, but let states regulate or even ban abortion beyond that. 

Bash reminded Graham of that fact. “For the record, Roe went up to viability,” she told him. “But I just want to button this up—”

“No, no, quit covering for these guys! No, no no! Your media—you keep covering for these guys,” Graham interrupted. “They introduced legislation that allowed abortion on demand with taxpayer-funded, you paying for it, the taxpayer, up to the moment of birth. That’s what their position in Washington. That’s the law they want to pass and nobody in your business will talk about it. That’s barbaric.”

“Senator, I’m not covering for anybody, and you know that,” Bash replied.

Graham seemed to be referring to the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill introduced by Senate Democrats in an attempt to codify Roe’s protections into law. The bill failed.

Graham has previously flip-flopped on abortion and how it should be handled. In May 2022, before the overturning of Roe, Graham tweeted that he thought the “most constitutionally sound way of dealing with this issue” is to let states “decide if abortion is legal and on what terms.” But, in September, Graham proposed a federal 15-week abortion ban.

That proposal now puts him squarely at odds with former President Donald Trump, who has both taken credit for appointing the Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe and said that he thinks states should set their own abortion restrictions. 

After Graham’s outburst, Bash asked Graham about Trump. “My question for you, sir, is about President Trump, who you’ve endorsed to be president again,” she said. “Is he right in saying that this issue should be a states’ issue?”

“Anybody running for president who has a snowball’s chance of hell is going to be with me, the American people, and all of Europe saying late-term abortions should be off the table,” Graham said. “I am confident that over time that’s where our nominee will be.”

Despite Graham’s railing against “late-term abortion,” that is not a medically accurate term.  Pregnancy tends to last 40 weeks, and doctors use the phrase “late term” to refer to pregnancies that last beyond that point—not to refer to abortions.

Most Americans believe abortion should be legal in the first three months of pregnancy, which is when more than 90 percent of all U.S. abortions occur. However, 71 percent of Americans do think that abortion should be illegal in the last three months of pregnancy, Gallup found in May 2022.

However, 75 percent of Americans also think abortion should be permitted in the last three months of pregnancy “when the woman’s life is endangered,” according to Gallup polling from 2018. Roughly half of Americans think it should be allowed “when the child would be born with a life-threatening illness” or “when the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest.” 

Less than 1 percent of abortions take place at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy, according to data from the CDC. The people who undergo these abortions are frequently seeking them because of some kind of health emergency.