• Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has introduced a bill that would ban abortions at 15 weeks of pregnancy.
• The legislation has virtually no chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Congress.
• But it highlights growing divisions in the country around abortion, just weeks ahead of the midterm elections.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has filed legislation that would prohibit abortions beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy in the United States, attracting criticism from Democrats and reproductive rights organisations.

The measure, announced on Tuesday, has little chance of passing in the Democratic-controlled Congress, but it shows the country’s increasing differences over abortion just weeks before the important midterm elections in November.

“If we accepted my bill – our law,” Graham, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump, said during a news conference, adding that dozens of European countries had comparable, if not more rigorous, restrictions.

For decades, abortion has been a divisive subject in US politics, with Republicans making the prohibition and restriction of the operation a fundamental tenet of their agenda.

This issue heated up after the United States Supreme Court overruled its landmark Roe v Wade decision in June, thus repealing the country’s constitutional right to abortion. The change gave conservative states the ability to ban or restrict the practise.

Because there are currently no federal laws governing abortion, states may enact their own legislation. Graham’s plan, dubbed the Protecting Pain-Capable Unborn Children from Late-Term Abortions Act, contends that foetuses can feel pain about 15 weeks of pregnancy, “if not sooner,” therefore the procedure’s limit.

The plan makes exceptions for victims of rape and incest, and it also allows abortion to save the mother’s life.

Meanwhile, Democrats are working to defend abortion rights across the country. The US House of Representatives passed a bill in July to prevent abortion laws in accordance with Roe v Wade, enshrining the right to the operation until foetal viability, which is roughly 24 weeks.