Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina touched off controversy this week by proposing a nationwide ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he doesn’t think his party will fully support this proposal. “I think most of the members of my conference prefer that this be dealt with at the state level,” McConnell told reporters on Tuesday. 

In an interview with Spectrum News, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said he believes the states should figure out the issue of abortion. 

Paul said he considers himself “pro-life” and supported overturning Roe v. Wade. “Now that it’s overturned, the decisions and the next step has been returned to the states so I think it’s better to look at each state individually. At this point I think the better part of valor is to continue to let the states figure out the issue,” Paul said. 

The Supreme Court’s decision has galvanized Democratic voters ahead of the mid-term elections, leaving some Republicans with little interest in making abortion rights an issue right now. 

According to a poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs, over half of Americans said they felt at least somewhat “sad” or “angry” after the Supreme Court took away the constitutional right to an abortion. 

The Gender Policy Council Director for the Biden administration, Jen Klein, tells Spectrum News she believes Graham’s proposal is “wildly out of step” with voters. 

“If anything, the right should be codified into federal law now that Roe versus Wade has been overturned,” Klein said. “Instead, Sen. Graham is going in the opposite direction.” 

Graham’s bill has no chance of advancing in the Senate as long as Democrats have the majority. Even if Republicans take control in November, there is little chance the measure would gain the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster.