Vice President Kamala Harris said she supports ending the Senate filibuster to pass abortion rights protections, as legislation to protect abortion access at the federal level has been blocked since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
The Democratic presidential candidate strongly called for change during an interview broadcast Tuesday on Wisconsin Public Radio.
“I’ve been very clear, I think we should eliminate the filibuster in Roe and get to the point where 51 votes would be what we need to really put back into law the protections for reproductive freedom and for the ability of every person and every woman to make decisions about her own body and not let her government tell her what to do,” Harris said.
Democrats have been trying to pass legislation to restore abortion protections provided in Roe v Wade since the landmark decision was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022.
Democrats, however, need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster in the Senate, but they only have a 51-seat majority.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in Georgia on Sept. 20 about reproductive freedom. Harris supports ending the Senate filibuster to pass legislation to restore Roe protections.
Harris has led the Biden administration’s push to protect abortion access since the Dobbs decision sent the issue back to the states, but acknowledged that an act of Congress would be needed to protect access at the federal level.
“We need the votes of Congress to do exactly what you’re saying, and that’s true,” Harris said of passing the legislation. “It’s within our reach to keep the Senate majority and take back the House of Representatives.”
Abortion rights are a top issue in the 2024 presidential election after being a galvanizing issue for Democrats in the 2022 midterms.
Harris has been actively campaigning to protect reproductive freedoms as her campaign has highlighted the issue in ads and is in the midst of a “Fight for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour of battleground states.
The overturning of Roe has put rival Donald Trump and Republicans in Washington on the defensive, with Democrats blaming them for the overturning of Roe.
Trump nominated three of the six conservative Supreme Court justices who ruled in the Dobbs case to overturn Roe.
On Friday, Harris traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, just days after ProPublica published a report about two Georgia women whose deaths have been linked to the state’s abortion ban.
Speaking in Atlanta, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed the deaths of two women in the state that have been linked to Georgia’s abortion ban.
Addressing her audience, Harris spoke of a 28-year-old mother who died in August 2022 after doctors delayed care due to the state’s six-week abortion ban, stating, “We will say her name: Amber Nicole Thurman.”
She called the deaths “preventable” and “avoidable.” Critics accused her of using the deaths to score political points.
The vice president has long promised on the campaign trail to sign legislation to codify Roe if it passes.
Senate Democrats first attempted to pass legislation protecting abortion access in May 2022 after the Supreme Court decision was leaked, but failed.
Another attempt to pass protections in July was also blocked by Republicans.
President Biden has long said he supports an exception to the filibuster to allow Democrats to pass laws protecting abortion.
As vice president, Harris has promised to be the deciding vote to end the filibuster on legislation to codify Roe, but her comments Tuesday mark the first time Harris has reiterated her position as a presidential candidate.
