Mitch McConnell says he’s ‘not advocating for anything’ at the federal level of abortion bans

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he is not pushing for anything at the federal level to ban abortion.

NBC’s Kristen Welker asked McConnell on “Meet the Press” if he would support a 15-week federal ban on abortions, like what Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is proposing. He said he didn’t see how the Senate could get 60 votes to pass a federal abortion ban.

He suggested that the abortion issue will be decided by the states and will not be decided by the federal government.

“Yeah, I’m not advocating anything at this level. I think this will be resolved across the country and will be very different in different states,” he said.

McConnell’s comments came weeks after former President Trump said in a four-minute video that abortion law should be decided by the states — a statement that was criticized by conservatives and liberals alike. Graham broke with Trump on his stance on abortion and had previously shown support for a 15-week abortion ban.

McConnell said it was “possible” there could be a federal abortion ban, but that he didn’t think it would pass Congress.

“And the reason I said it was possible is because the Supreme Court put this back into the legislative arena. And we’re seeing this happen across the country. And I think in the end it will reflect the views of those individual states,” McConnell said.

“But I said, ‘Possible.’ I didn’t say that was my opinion. I don’t think we’ll get 60 votes in the Senate for any kind of national legislation. I think it’s a practical question. This will be resolved at the state level,” he continued.

When pressed on whether the Republican Party should take a firmer stance on whether it supports a national abortion ban, he again reiterated that opinions on the issue vary depending on the state.

“At the risk of being redundant, it seems to me that opinions on this issue at the state level vary depending on where you are. And we are elected by the states. And my members are smart enough to figure out how they want to deal with this divisive issue based on the people who actually send them here,” he said.