WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) voted with Republicans in abortion legislation Monday evening.
The measure, S. 2311, was designed to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It needed 60 votes to pass, but the vote was 51-46.
But the bill succeeded at putting vulnerable Democrats on the record on that issue, which was one of the Republicans' goals. The GOP is defending its 51-49 majority in the midterm elections.
Donnelly was one of three Democratic-senators up for re-election in conservative states who voted to advance the legislation. The others are Sens. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with other Democrats to reject it.
The House passed identical legislation in October.
Donnelly has not released a statement explaining his reasoning for the vote, but voting against his party's majority is not unusual. According to a ProPublica analysis, Donnelly votes against the Democratic majority 20.3 percent of the time, the fourth-highest percentage in the Senate.
The other Senator from Indiana, Republican Todd Young, votes against his party's majority 1.1 percent of the time. Young voted with other Republicans in favor of the measure.
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