Harris calls for ending filibuster for abortion rights

Vice President Harris on Tuesday called for eliminating the legislative filibuster in the Senate in order to codify abortion rights.

“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” Harris said on Wisconsin Public Radio. “To actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom, and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do.”

It marks the furthest Harris has gone to date in her pledge to restore abortion rights if she is elected in November.

She has repeatedly said she would sign legislation passed by Congress to restore Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority in 2022.

Harris has made reproductive rights central to her campaign, blaming former President Trump for the end of Roe v. Wade and the restrictive abortion bans subsequently passed by states across the country. Her campaign has highlighted the stories of women whose health was jeopardized and who had to travel across state lines to receive care because of state-level abortion restrictions.

Trump has said abortion policy should be left to the states and has taken credit for ending Roe through his appointment of three conservative justices. He has said a national law on abortion is unnecessary, though he has refused to say whether he would veto such legislation if it made it to his desk as president.

Harris previously said during her 2020 presidential primary campaign that she would back ending the filibuster to pass sweeping climate change legislation. 

President Biden in 2022 said the Senate should carve out an exception to the 60-vote filibuster to codify abortion rights after the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe.

Most legislation in the Senate requires 60 votes to pass, but a change to the filibuster would make it so a simple majority would be required. Despite calls from Harris and Biden, it’s unclear if there’s enough support just among Democrats to change the filibuster.

Democrats also face a difficult electoral map in the Senate in November, and they may not be in the majority even if Harris wins the White House. Democrats are defending seats in deep-red Montana and West Virginia, as well as in Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Updated at 11:30 a.m. EDT