(Photo Credit: Bill Clark/Getty Images)
Maybe it’s because it was 10 a.m. on a Saturday morning, but Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wasn’t feeling the love at the 2015 Values Voters Summit. From barely-there applause throughout much of his Iran pitch to a more pronounced silence during his brief nod to health care, Graham failed to galvanize much energy from his highly-conservative audience.
But, perhaps, no moment fell flatter during Graham’s remarks than his pro-life pitch -- a moment clearly aimed at easily garnering support, only to be met with a smattering of applause even at its most rousing moments.
In a speech that read more like a plodding college lecture, Graham dedicated a good chunk of time talking about the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, a pro-life bill that failed to get enough votes for consideration in the Senate last week. The bill, championed by Graham in the weeks leading up to the vote, would have imposed a national ban on most abortions after 20 weeks. The bill also mandated that abortions performed as an exception to that rule only be done in the manner that best enabled the baby to survive.
In his remarks, Graham pitched the bill as an example of his own commitment to the pro-life movement:
The theory of the case is pretty interesting. At 20 weeks, we’ve had children who’ve been born who are alive today. Now, Roe v. Wade says the government has a compelling state interest to regulate abortions at the point of medical viability – in 1973. Do you think medicine has advanced since 1973?
This is a really important debate for the pro-life movement. Because the theory of the case is not that we’re protecting the unborn because they’re medically viable. We’re protecting the unborn because they feel excruciating pain at 20 weeks.
Isn’t it pretty logical to say you shouldn’t abort the baby if they can feel pain? That’s the theory of the case.
I don’t want to live in a country where a baby can have their head crushed knowing that they can’t be operated on without anesthesia. There’s no anesthesia in abortion. Think long and hard about who you are and what you want your country to be.
Maybe, the heavily pro-life, conservative audience thought Graham was implying a late-term abortion should be illegal not because it kills a living human being, but because that living being is physically hurt in the process. Then again, maybe it's because it was Saturday morning and everyone had stepped out for coffee. Or maybe it's because, the day before, that same crowd had sat through a powerful speech from David Daleiden, the man behind all those recent gruesome videos from the Center for Medical Progress showing Planned Parenthood officials haggling over the price of body parts taken from aborted babies - and they thought Graham's one-dimensional pro-life argument paled in comparison.
Either way, Graham’s pitch seemed to fall flat with the pro-life crowd, who offered only a weak round of applause in response.
Graham then asked his audience whether they saw Planned Parenthood being defunded while President Obama was still in office, clearly expecting a resounding and collective, “No.”
While a few voices initially agreed with Graham’s implied stance, others quickly called out the opposite.
“Yes!” two voices can be heard saying.
“How strong’s the Senate?” another chimed in.
Shrugging, Graham faltered for a brief moment over from the clearly unexpected responses.
“You do? Okay. This is good, this is…let’s keep talking. We’re gonna have a good discussion among the family,” he joked before quickly moving on.