Anti-abortion activists celebrated when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced that a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks would be brought to the floor for a vote next week.
Activists think the 20-week abortion ban is a potent election issue for 2018, particularly against Democrats hailing from red-leaning states who are expected to vote against the bill.
“There will be consequences for senators in vulnerable Senate seats in 2018 when the grass roots lets itself be heard at the ballot box,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion advocacy group in Washington.
The activists hope their efforts will lead to the defeat of vulnerable Democrats such as Sens. Claire McCaskill (Mo.) and Heidi Heitkamp (N.D.), who both voted against the 20-week bill in 2015. McCaskill’s office said she plans to do so again, while Heitkamp’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Dannenfelser says their polling, completed by The Polling Company, which was founded by Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, shows the majority of Americans in battleground states support limiting abortions after 20 weeks.
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