CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday suggested that she would push the Senate to eliminate the filibuster to codify abortion as a federal right.

Ms. Harris was asked during a CNN town hall how she would ensure abortion access if Congress refuses to pass legislation that would enshrine Roe v. Wade.

“I think we need to take a look at the filibuster, to be honest with you,” Ms. Harris said.

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“But the reality of it is this: Let’s talk about how we got here. When Donald Trump was president, he hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would be under the protections of Roe v. Wade and they did as intended,” she said.

Eliminating the filibuster would lower the threshold in the Senate to pass a bill from 60 votes to a simple majority of 51. Those who defend the filibuster say the toll forces consensus and bipartisanship because it prevents unpopular legislation from being rammed through a majority vote.

In an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio last month, Ms. Harris went further saying, “We should eliminate the filibuster for Roe.”

Limiting the filibuster, even if initially only for the single issue of abortion rights, has historically invited escalation.

When Sen. Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat and then the majority leader, invoked the “nuclear option” in 2013 by ending the filibuster for President Obama’s judicial nominations, his resolution only eliminated it for lower-court picks and preserved it for Supreme Court nominees.

That caveat was promptly eliminated by Republicans when doing so worked to their advantage under President Trump and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.