Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Monday said he disagreed with former President Donald Trump's comments that abortion should be left for each state to decide instead of a national ban.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the November election, took to Truth Social to release a video in which he stopped short of calling for a national ban on abortions.
"I respectfully disagree with President Trump's statement that abortion is a states' rights issue," Graham said in a statement. "Dobbs does not require that conclusion legally and the pro-life movement has always been about the wellbeing of the unborn child — not geography."
The Supreme Court, in its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, which had legalized abortion nationwide.
The high court's June 2022 Dobbs decision essentially returned the issue to the states.
"The states' rights only rationale today runs contrary to an American consensus that would limit late-term abortions and will age about as well as the Dred Scott decision," Graham wrote. "The science is clear — a child at fifteen weeks is well-developed and is capable of feeling pain."
Graham, a longtime supporter of Trump, said he will "continue to advocate that there should be a national minimum standard limiting abortion at fifteen weeks because the child is capable of feeling pain, with exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother."
Graham noted that 47 of 50 European nations have national limits on abortion between 12-15 weeks.
"Until we achieve this goal, the least we can do is to provide anesthesia to an unborn child facing an abortion at fifteen weeks because they can feel pain," he wrote. "Therefore, I will be introducing new legislation requiring abortion providers to administer anesthesia to an unborn child at fifteen weeks because they are capable of feeling pain.
"It is common medical practice to administer anesthesia to operate on an unborn child at fifteen weeks to save their life."
That could signal a shift in focus for Graham, who earlier this year told The Hill he would reintroduce his legislation to implement a nationwide 15-week abortion ban before the general election.