United States President Joe Biden said on Thursday, 30 June, that he would support eliminating the filibuster to protect a woman's right to abortion given that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe vs Wade.
"We have to codify Roe vs Wade in the law, and the way to do that is to make sure the Congress votes to do that. And if the filibuster gets in the way, it’s like voting rights, we provide an exception for this, or an exception to the filibuster for this action," Biden said.
He also condemned the "outrageous behaviour" of the apex court, and accused them of "destabilising" the country.
It is an important development given that Biden has long opposed the scrapping of the filibuster, which basically means that in the US Senate 60 votes are required to end debate and move onto voting to pass legislation.
This is only the second time he has made such an assertion. The first time was in January when he had called on Congress to make an exception and pass legislation to strengthen voting rights across the country.
The US Supreme Court, on 24 June, overturned Roe v Wade, a landmark case that constitutionally protected abortion rights for almost 50 years.
Restrictions on abortions are expected in about half of the states in the country, ruled by the Republican Party.
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