Vice President Kamala Harris called for eliminating the filibuster in the Senate to pass federal legislation protecting abortion rights on Tuesday, Politico reported.
The Democratic presidential nominee expressed her support for ending the 60-vote threshold necessary to push legislation in the Senate, known as filibuster.
“I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” Harris said on Wisconsin Public Radio, “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.”
While Trump has boasted about overturning Roe v Wade, stripping women of the freedom to determine what happens to their bodies, Harris has repeatedly advanced her support of reproductive rights. The Harris campaign has blamed the GOP nominee and his three appointed Supreme Court justices for ending the national right to abortion until fetal viability.
But in the Senate, the filibuster prevents the Democratic majority from protecting abortion rights, with legislation generally requiring 60 votes to pass the upper chamber. Eliminating the filibuster could allow a 50-50 Senate to restore abortion rights, provided there is a Democratic vice president to cast the tie-breaking vote.
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