Sen. Rubio signs on as co-sponsor of nationwide 15-week abortion ban

ORLANDO, Fla. – Sen. Marco Rubio has signed onto Sen. Lindsey Graham’s bill to restrict abortion to 15 weeks across the country.

Rubio, the senior Republican senator from Florida, is one of two co-sponsors so far on the bill, which Graham unveiled Tuesday. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana is the other co-sponsor.

[TRENDING: Professional dancer loses legs after contracting meningococcal meningitis infection | Museum Day: How to get free admission to Central Florida museums | Enter to win Kroger grocery gift card | Become a News 6 Insider (it’s free!)]

The bill restricts abortions to 15 weeks except in cases of rape, incest or the physical health of the mother, but it allows states with more restrictive state laws to leave their laws as is. You can read the text of the bill on Sen. Graham’s website.

For instance, Florida has a 15-week abortion ban without exemptions in cases of rape, incest or the physical health of the mother. Other states have tried to limit abortions to 6 weeks, or enacted a total ban.

It also supersedes states with less restrictive abortion laws.

Rubio, in a tweeted statement Tuesday, said the bill is more lenient than abortion laws in virtually every country in Europe, and then attacked his senate race opponent, Rep. Val Demings, for opposing the bill.

While many countries in Europe have a gestational limit of 12 to 14 weeks, many of them also have more flexibility and exemptions to allow for abortions, including economic or social reasons, or the mental health of the mother. That’s according to the World Health Organization.

Demings has been vocally in favor of abortion rights. She supported two U.S. House bills in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade that would have codified the right to an abortion, and was a co-sponsor on a bill that prohibited states’ abilities to restrict people from traveling to have an abortion in another state.