Mitch McConnell on Thursday set up two votes on anti-abortion bills for later this month, a move intended to excite conservatives and put a vulnerable Senate Democrat in a difficult position.

The Senate majority leader teed up votes on a bill banning abortions after 20 weeks and also the "Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act." Both bills have been rejected by the Senate in recent years after failing to clear the chamber's 60-vote threshold. But forcing votes on them in an election year could help boost enthusiasm on the right for keeping the Senate in Republican hands.


Democrats generally oppose the 20-week abortion ban, though Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) have supported it in the past. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who is up for reelection this year, have opposed it. That measure failed in 2018.