Harris is wrong about eliminating the filibuster for abortion rights

Senate Democrats made a mistake when they eliminated the filibuster for lower court judges in 2013. They’re making the same mistake again — except this time with a far less certain payoff.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Tuesday that she favors lowering the existing 60-vote threshold to a bare majority to enact legislation to protect abortion rights nationwide. “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,” she told Wisconsin Public Radio.

I would love to see a federal law that gives women nationwide the ability to decide for themselves whether to continue an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy. Harris’s solution is, unfortunately, the wrong way to do it.