U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham has introduced legislation to ban all abortions at 20 weeks — no exceptions, no matter how grim the circumstance for mother or fetus.

The Republican House likes the idea. So did the Republican-controlled Arkansas legislature, which passed a 20-week ban over Gov. Mike Beebe’s veto. The bill enjoys popularity among voters because it’s packaged around the emotion-tweaking assertion that fetuses at that age can feel pain. That’s bad science, in the view of many. It certainly will require a change in prevailing federal court precedent, which prohibits abortion bans before viability of the fetus, around 24 or 25 weeks.

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Be sure to read, if you haven’t already, about the sort of agony this legislation will bring to adult human beings. Kyle and Abby Sanders have talked about what happens to real people when faced with grave fetal anomalies.

Add this to the short list of ready refrains by Arkansas Republican candidates. Graham plans this as an election year litmus test.

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