Kamala Harris Backs Ending Senate Filibuster to Restore National Abortion Rights

September 25 :
On September 24, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris stated her support for eliminating a procedural instrument that now necessitates a supermajority in the Senate to enact legislation safeguarding the right to an abortion on a national level. A crucial issue in the 2024 election is the prohibition or severely limited abortion rights enacted by around twelve states in the United States since the Supreme Court's decision in 2022 overturned the Roe v. Wade judgment.

Harris has called on lawmakers to establish a nationwide statute guaranteeing women the right to a safe abortion. To pass most legislation in the upper house at present, you need the cooperation of 60 senators. Harris expressed her desire to reduce the requirement to a simple majority in an interview on September 24.

"We should eliminate the filibuster for Roe... 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," she told the radio station. After Republicans expanded the filibuster to encompass nominees for the Supreme Court in 2017, Democrats lifted it in 2013 for judicial nominations. In part because of resistance from centrist senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who will not be returning to the Senate next year, some Democrats have argued for completely eliminating the 60-vote barrier, although they have not yet taken this step.