Many in the Democratic Party want it gone, as do progressive organizations, but what about the abortion lobby?
Priorities differ when it comes to the filibuster.
With a slim 50-50 majority in the U.S. Senate, some members of the Democratic Party want to eliminate the filibuster so that they can pass significant pieces of legislation with a simple majority rather than 60 votes. The idea is that they will be able to get more of their agenda done if they vote in a bloc with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tiebreaker. Some priorities that the party has laid out in the past few months include funding an infrastructure project, creating e a health insurance public option, raising the minimum wage, and creating a pathway to citizenship illegal immigrants.
However, Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America are not a part of that fight.
Why?
It’s because they think if the U.S. Senate kills the filibuster, Republicans will capitalize on it when they take power to restrict abortion, as Politico reports.
An unnamed NARAL spokesman told Politico earlier in the week that the filibuster is “a dynamic, moving target, and we’re watching the conversation really closely.”
Politico also reported the thoughts of an unnamed Planned Parenthood official.
“We’re very supportive of those groups who are coming out against the filibuster, and we’re not going to work againsttheir push to end it, but it’s not our focus,” the unnamed person said. “There are always threats to abortion rights, filibuster or not. We are always at risk and under attack no matter who is in Congress or what the rules are.”
Florida State University College of Law professor Mary Ziegler told Politico she understands why keeping the filibuster in place would help the pro-abortion organizations.
“If you’re Planned Parenthood or another progressive group, the possibility of getting federal pro-choice legislation passed is fairly remote,” Ziegler said. “Keeping the filibuster for a rainy day when Republicans are controlling Congress makes sense for them.”
Last year, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill banning elective abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy 53-44. It failed because it needed 60 votes. That’s because Democrats in the Senate filibustered the measure. The United States is one of just seven countries in the world to allow elective abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, as The Washington Post confirms.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Cambridge) and U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-Malden) have been vocal in their opposition to the filibuster.
Markey even claimed earlier this month that “The filibuster was created so that slave owners could hold power over our government.” It’s a statement that The Washington Postgave “Three Pinocchios.”
Warren also called it a racist policy.
“The filibuster has deep roots in racism, and it should not be permitted to serve that function, or to create a veto for the minority. In a democracy, it’s majority rules,” she said, according to The Hill.
The offices for Senators Markey and Warren could not be reached for comment on Friday.
(Courtesy of Flickr, CNA) 
