CHICAGO– Senator Tammy Baldwin, who faces a tough re-election fight in one of the races that will determine control of Congress, has made protecting reproductive rights a cornerstone of her campaign and is willing to back that up by promising to change the Senate’s filibuster rules if Democrats maintain control of the chamber.
The Wisconsin Democrat said taking this action is necessary to ensure that women in every state — not the government — can decide for themselves whether they want to have an abortion. As part of her campaign, she warns that Republicans could also target the filibuster to impose a national abortion ban if they prevail in November.
“Republicans have demonstrated time and time again that they will stop at nothing in their quest to control women’s bodies – and I believe them,” she said.
Democratic incumbents and challengers running for Senate this year say they want to restore the national right to abortion, and many, like Baldwin, say openly they would support lifting the filibuster to do so. It has become a key talking point as they try to capitalize on the national battle over abortion rights that has generally helped Democratic candidates since the Supreme Court struck down constitutional protections two years ago.
Republicans have criticized Democrats for wanting to change the rules and are emphatic that they would not do so if they won the presidency and the Senate.
Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, two prominent Republican supporters of abortion rights, have introduced legislation designed to codify the protections that were established by Roe v. Wade. In a statement, Collins said he “will oppose any effort to weaken the legislative filibuster” by either party.
Senate rules require 60 votes to end debate on a bill, effectively making it the minimum number of votes needed to pass legislation as a way of controlling the majority. In an era of polarization and political gridlock, this number, as opposed to a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, has been an obstacle for the ruling party to advance its agenda on issues such as voting rights and immigration.
But whichever party has control of the Senate can change the rules and make exceptions to the filibuster with just a simple majority vote. This step was called the “nuclear option” the few times it was used.
Democrats, under then-Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, did this for all judicial nominations except the Supreme Court in 2013, when Democrat Barack Obama was president and Republicans repeatedly blocked Democratic nominations. GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Reid would regret that decision — and Republicans later changed the filibuster rule for Supreme Court nominees when they regained control.
This allowed Republican Donald Trump, while in the White House, to place three conservative justices on the court, including Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed about a week before the 2020 election. She helped form the majority on the court that overturned Roe v. Wade.
While neither party has gone so far as to change the rules of the legislation, many Democrats in Senate elections this year have enthusiastically supported doing so, especially to protect the right to abortion.
“If NASA had the rules of the United States Senate, the rocket would never leave the launch pad,” Arizona Senator Mark Kelly said in an interview this month with NBC News. “So sometimes at an appropriate time — I think this is one of them — I would consider changing those rules to make sure women can get the health care they need.”
Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey has said “he has been on record for years” that the rules should be changed and still supports that position. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar has repeatedly called for eliminating the filibuster to protect abortion and voting rights since Roe v. Wade.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, who has served one term in the House and is the leading Democratic candidate for Senate in Florida, said in an interview with NBC News this month that she is “very much in favor of stopping the filibuster and voting for a woman’s right to choose for codifying Roe v. Wade.
His opponent, Republican Senator Rick Scott, protested Mucarsel-Powell’s support for lifting the filibuster. He has not commented on whether he would support lifting the filibuster to restrict abortion nationally, but has strongly defended it in the past, calling it “a vital and necessary rule to protect the rights of minority parties.”
“Should it be ‘paused’ to pass the Green New Deal? How about stacking the Supreme Court or eliminating the Electoral College?” Scott said in a statement to the Associated Press that he referenced his opponent. “Should we get rid of this permanently or just stop it when (Senate Majority Leader) Chuck Schumer tells us to? Be honest with the people of Florida about where you draw the line in ‘pausing’ democracy, Congressman.”
It’s not just Democratic lawmakers and candidates. In 2022, President Joe Biden said he supported a filibuster opt-out to codify abortion rights, an idea thwarted by two moderates who decided not to run for reelection this year, Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a Democrat turned independent.
Political experts say there could be strong pressure from anti-abortion groups to lift the Senate filibuster if the Republican Party gains full control in Washington, but national organizations have had less emphasis on the issue, at least publicly.
When asked last month in an interview with Time magazine whether he would veto a bill that would impose a federal ban, Trump did not respond directly. Instead, he said there will “never be that chance” because Republicans, even if they retake the Senate in November, would not have the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster and bring the bill to a vote.
Kristi Hamrick, a spokeswoman for Students for Life, said maneuvering around the filibuster is not a “realistic scenario” because the group has not seen coordinated efforts underway to do so. Instead, she said that if Trump is elected, the group will pressure him to consider taking administrative steps to restrict abortion, including banning the shipping and online sale of abortion pills.
Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said the organization never took a position on the issue and instead accused Biden of having “the intention to circumvent the filibuster.”
Democrats and abortion rights groups say they are skeptical that Republicans would not try to lift the filibuster rule for a federal ban.
Mini Timmaraju, president of the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All, said the Republican Party and anti-abortion forces “stand ready to use every tool at their disposal to ban abortion across the country, and that includes bypass the obstruction.”
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat from Michigan, also warned of a nationwide ban if Republicans win the presidency and Congress.
“We can’t trust anything Donald Trump says when it comes to abortion,” Whitmer said recently. “So no one should take comfort in the fact that yes, he wants an abortion ban, but he’s not going to get it because he doesn’t think we’re going to get 60 votes in the Senate. Nonsense.
Trump has expressed conflicting views on the rule, depending on whether his party controls the Senate. In 2017, his first year as president, he called for an end to the filibuster to advance his agenda, including repealing the health care law enacted under Obama and building a border wall. But in 2021, a year after he lost his reelection bid and with Democrats controlling Congress, he said removing the filibuster would be “catastrophic for the Republican Party.”
Several high-ranking GOP members of the Senate — including Senators John Thune of South Dakota, John Cornyn of Texas and John Barrasso of Wyoming — have said they are firmly against lifting the filibuster. Thune and Cornyn are running to replace McConnell when he steps down as leader after the November elections.
Sen. Jim Lankford, R-Oklahoma, said last week that Republican senators have discussed the issue during private meetings and that he and others have said they want promises from those running for leadership that they will not change the rules.
“It’s a uniquely American thing to be able to have a place in government that both sides should be a part of,” Lankford said.
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Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.
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