Kamala Harris Calls for Senate Rule Change to Protect Abortion Rights

Vice President pushes to end filibuster for Roe v. Wade legislation, making reproductive rights a key focus of her campaign.

Kamala Harris is advocating for a change in Senate rules to ensure federal protection for abortion rights.

In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio that aired on Tuesday, Harris expressed her support for eliminating the 60-vote requirement, commonly referred to as the filibuster, which is currently needed to advance most legislation in the Senate.

“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe, and get us to the point where 51 votes would be what we need 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,” Harris stated.

Although Harris has been consistent in her promise to sign legislation that would codify the protections of Roe v. Wade into federal law, she had not, until recently, specified her stance on making an exception to the filibuster for this issue. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, has long expressed support for such an exception, and in 2022, Harris pledged as vice president to cast a tie-breaking vote to end the filibuster for both reproductive and voting rights.

During her 2020 presidential campaign, Harris also backed a filibuster exception for passing the Green New Deal, a broad climate initiative.

Reproductive rights have become a focal point of Harris’ campaign, and she has repeatedly criticized Donald Trump for his appointment of three conservative Supreme Court justices, which led to the 2022 ruling that overturned Roe. This ruling had previously protected abortion rights up to fetal viability, around 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion remains a key issue on the campaign trail, and Democrats are counting on it to boost their chances in the upcoming election. Trump, in response, has sought to shift the focus to state-level decisions on the matter.

Restoring the abortion protections once guaranteed by Roe remains an uphill battle, with Democrats facing tough odds in retaining control of the Senate this November. However, should they maintain their majority, they seem poised to pass abortion rights legislation, with Sen. Bernie Sanders recently indicating his willingness to support a filibuster exception for this purpose.

Despite Harris’ push to reinstate Roe, some progressives within the abortion-rights movement remain frustrated. They argue that decisions about terminating a pregnancy should be left solely to patients and their doctors, without government intervention, even after fetal viability.

Harris has yet to clarify her stance on Roe’s restrictions, which allowed states to prohibit abortion in the third trimester, provided exceptions were made to protect the life of the mother.

Harris has also become a more effective advocate for abortion rights than Biden, whose Catholic faith has often made him hesitant to openly discuss the issue on the campaign trail. Harris has been especially vocal in sharing the experiences of those affected by restrictive abortion laws, including the case of Amber Rose Thuman, a Georgia woman who died after being denied timely medical care due to abortion-related complications.