Republicans breath a sigh of relief at Trump's abortion announcement they can now hide behind in 2024: GOP lawmakers who backed a 15-week ban now say limits should be decided by states

Senator Lindsey Graham has increasingly found himself on an island when it comes to the issue of abortion as he continues to push for federal restrictions. 

Other congressional Republicans have fallen in line behind former President Donald Trump's newly publicized view that he believes ending a pregnancy should be an issue left to the states.

Whether they fear the wrath of Trump or are simply relieved that Democrats' top messaging issue will no longer be an effective scare tactic in races, Senate Republicans - even ones who had backed a bill that would have instituted a 15-week federal ban - had high praise for the former president's statement. 

'I texted Trump, I said, really well done. I mean it really was. I was like, thank you, thank you for doing it,' Sen. Kevin Cramer told reporters Tuesday. 

Cramer was a co-sponsor of Graham's legislation that would have banned abortions at the federal level at 15 weeks. 

'My sense is there's probably some relief [among Republicans] that he did that,' the North Dakota Republican admitted. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham has increasingly found himself on an island when it comes to the issue of abortion as he continues to push for federal restrictions

Whether they fear the wrath of Trump or are simply relieved that Democrats ' top messaging issue will no longer be an effective scare tactic in congressional races, Senate Republicans - even ones who had backed a bill that would have instituted a 15-week federal ban - had high praise for the former president's statement

Cramer told DailyMail.com he would still 'probably' support the Graham bill, but 'for now Donald Trump has landed in a good spot and we should follow that lead.'

'If there's a place where people are comfortable, and in what we've done in confirming good judge justices,' the senator went on. 'Maybe we take a pause and celebrate that for a while and start working on the hearts of people instead of looking for the next thing.' 

Other staunch conservatives - like Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla., said they agreed with Trump, abortion is now squarely in the jurisdiction of states. 

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, another co-sponsor of Graham's 15-week legislation, told DailyMail.com he 'couldn't think of anything' he disagreed with in Trump's statement.  

'I think I agreed with it for the most part. I can't say there's anything I totally disagree with, I do think the Dobbs decision clearly pushes it back to the states and we'll leave it at that.' 

He said he would still be supportive of a 15-week ban, but 'there's just not 45 or 50 votes that would agree on anything.'

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., chairman of the Senate GOP's campaign arm, told DailyMail.com it is 'absolutely false to say Republicans support a federal ban' on abortion. He also co-sponsored the Graham bill. 

He clarified that he meant an outright ban. 'We should come together and be reasonable on late term abortions, with exceptions for rape,' he added. 

The abortion debate laid bare a rift between Trump and one of his biggest congressional allies on Monday. 

The former president raged at Graham after the South Carolina Republican said he was making a 'mistake' on abortion. 

'I blame myself for Lindsey Graham, because the only reason he won in the Great State of South Carolina is because I Endorsed him!' Trump said in one of several posts on Truth Social.  

Graham had written on X hours earlier: 'I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue. Dobbs does not require that conclusion legally and the pro-life movement has always been about the wellbeing of the unborn child – not geography.'

The 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision stripped federal protections for a woman's right to abortion. States have been torn between implementing new restrictions and fighting the political implications of restricting abortion ever since. 

Trump has waffled on abortion over the years, from before his run for the presidency when he said he was pro-choice, to supporting punishment for women who get an abortion, to hinting he might back a 15-week federal ban. 

'We have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,' Trump said in the video released Monday.  

Just as Trump punted the issue to the states, the Arizona Supreme Court came out with a new ruling that amounted to a near-total abortion ban and drew even conservative opposition. 

The court ruled Tuesday that the state can enforce its 160-year-old long-dormant law criminalizing all abortions except when it puts the mother's life at risk. 

The 1864 law provides no exceptions for abortion in the case of rape or incest, but allows a mother to seek termination of their pregnancy if their life is put in danger should they carry the fetus to term. The state will now have one of the strictest abortion policies in the country. 

Trump ally and Senate candidate Kari Lake came out swinging against the ruling: 'I oppose today's ruling, and I am calling on Katie Hobbs and the State Legislature to come up with an immediate common sense solution that Arizonans can support.'

Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) called Tuesday's ruling a 'disaster for women and providers' and slammed the law as 'archaic.' 

He said that the 15-week ban was a good balance in protecting the rights of women and the unborn – and said the previous law 'respected women and the difficult decision of ending a pregnancy.'