This article has been updated with a response from the White House.
Republicans, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), on Sept. 13 unveiled a bill that would ban many abortions at a federal level.
The bill, dubbed the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act, is similar to another bill introduced in the Senate by Graham last year. However, it would reduce the prohibition from a 20-week ban to a 15-week ban.
The legislation seeks to balance pro-life policy goals with some exceptions and exemptions, targeting doctors who would perform illegal abortions rather than women who seek them out.
For instance, the bill establishes a new federal criminal offense for performing or attempting to perform an abortion if it is probable that the infant is 15 weeks old or older, roughly the point at which unborn children are capable of feeling pain and distress, though scientists remain divided on when exactly an infant can feel pain….