Senate GOP leader McConnell won’t push for 15-week abortion law, says unlikely to pass

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill on April 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2024 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said that he would not advocate for a law that would restrict abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy at the federal level, arguing that such a bill is unlikely to receive enough support to pass the Senate. 

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, McConnell noted that federal legislation in “any direction,” whether it be pro-life or pro-abortion, would need support from 60 senators to overcome the filibuster — a threshold that would be difficult for either side to reach.

“I don’t think we’ll get 60 votes in the Senate for any kind of national legislation,” the Senate minority leader said. “I think as a practical matter, it’s going to be sorted out at the state level.”

McConnell did not directly answer a question about whether he would vote for a bill restricting abortion after 15 weeks but said he’s “not advocating for anything at this level.” He said he thinks abortion policy will “be sorted out all across the country and be very different in different states.”

The Republican leader added that individual Republican senators are welcome to differ in how they approach the policy question. 

“Views about this issue at the state level vary depending on where you are, and we got elected by states and my members are smart enough to figure out how they want to deal with this very divisive issue based upon the people who actually send them here,” McConnell said.

Abortion policy has become divisive in the United States — and among Republicans — since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which allowed federal and state legislation restricting abortion. More than 20 states imposed restrictions on abortion after the Supreme Court decision and several other states passed pro-abortion laws.

Although most Republicans espouse pro-life views, electoral struggles and referendum losses have led some Republicans to diverge from traditional pro-life policy goals, such as federal restrictions. Other Republicans have tried to advance pro-life bills through Congress, without any success.

The presumptive Republican nominee to challenge President Joe Biden for the White House in November, former president Donald Trump, announced his proposed abortion policies in early April: a state-by-state approach rather than federal restrictions. 

“Many states will be different,” Trump said. “Many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative [policies] than others, and that’s what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.”

Biden and most Democrats have embraced an effort to legalize abortion nationwide, which would overrule pro-life laws in more than 20 states. They have referred to this proposed legislation as a codification of Roe v. Wade’s abortion standards into federal law.