Harris calls for end to Senate filibuster to restore abortion rights in US
Kamala Harris has called for an end to the Senate filibuster to fulfill her promise to restore abortion rights through legislation.
The American vice president, himself a former senator, told a Wisconsin radio station argued that abolishing the filibuster — which sets a 60-vote threshold in the 100-seat upper chamber of the U.S. Congress — would be necessary to codify the rights enshrined in Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the right to legal abortion across the U.S. until it was overturned in a ruling two years ago.
“I think we need to abolish the filibuster for Roe and get to the point where we need 51 votes to put back into law the protections of reproductive freedom and the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about their own bodies — and not have their government tell them what to do,” Harris told WPR, a National Public Radio affiliate, during a campaign trip to Wisconsin, a key Midwestern swing state where she has a razor-thin lead over Donald Trump, according to recent polls.
Her comments underlined her determination to put abortion rights at the heart of her campaign message, as polls show it is a priority for many female voters.
However, it cost her the support of outgoing West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin — a former Democrat who left the party this year to become an independent — who said he would not support her candidacy because of her promise.
“Shame on her,” said Manchin, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of this year, told CNN“She knows the filibuster is the holy grail of democracy. It’s the only thing that keeps us talking and working together. If she gets rid of that, this is the House on steroids.”
Trump is on the defensive on abortion because the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling came with the votes of three conservative justices he appointed while president. Harris has claimed that Trump would sign a nationwide ban if he were to retake the White House, though he insists he would leave it up to individual states.
Harris’ use of a radio interview to highlight her commitment follows criticism that she deliberately avoided interviews with prominent figures. Harris has attempted to counter this charge by making herself available to select media outlets in key states.
Trump said at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday that he would be the “protector” of women and that they would not “think about abortion” if he won a second term.
Harris’ filibuster remarks were reminiscent of a similar comment made by Joe Biden shortly after Roe v. Wade was overturned, when he said an exception to the Senate’s time-tested rule should be created to guarantee abortion rights.
“I believe we should enshrine Roe v. Wade in law,” he said“And the way to do that is to have Congress vote on it. And if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s just like voting rights — it should be (that) we make an exception to that … require an exception to the filibuster for this action to consider the Supreme Court decision.”
Harris has previously advocated bypassing the filibuster to pass additional voting rights bills and Green New Deal legislation.
In 2020, Barack Obama described the filibuster as a “Jim Crow relic” from America’s racially segregated past and argued that the filibuster should be abolished if it was being used to block electoral reform.
The filibuster describes the use of prolonged debate to delay or prevent a vote on a bill. It can be invoked by any senator objecting to a bill and has been used with increasing frequency in recent decades.
It can only be overwritten by “closure,” which requires a three-fifths vote — or 60 of the 100 senators. If the shutdown passes, the original measure that was supposed to block the filibuster could come to a vote.
The longest filibuster in Senate history was achieved by South Carolina segregation leader Strom Thurmond, when he spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in an attempt to block civil rights legislation in 1957.
Thurmond’s speech – described by his biographer as a “urological mystery” – was reportedly achieved with the help of previous steam baths to dehydrate his body and eliminate the need for frequent toilet visits. An aide also reported that he had a catheter inserted to relieve himself while he spoke.