Elizabeth Warren blasted for claiming 'minority' blocked abortion bill despite it being opposed by majority

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Senate fails to advance abortion rights bill

Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has more as the Senate blocks bill to codify Roe v. Wade on 'Special Report.'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was blasted by critics Wednesday for oddly claiming that a "minority" of senators blocked passage of an abortion bill despite a majority of senators voting against it.

"I believe in democracy, and I don't believe that the minority should have the ability to block things that the majority want to do. That's not in the Constitution," the liberal senator told CNN reporter Manu Raju following the vote.

"What we're talking about right now are the individual rights and liberties of half the population of the United States of America. I think that's enough to say it's time to get rid of the filibuster," she added.

Warren's reference to the filibuster was also perplexing considering a filibuster-proof majority is 60 votes and the bill could not even muster a simple majority, failing by a 51-49 margin.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks with CNN's Manu Raju on May 11, 2022 in Washington, D.C. (Screenshot/The Hill)

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Critics took to social media to blast Warren, mocking her for claiming the 51 vote majority was actually a minority, with some calling her "confused," and others suggesting she didn't know how to do math.

"Um, a bipartisan MAJORITY of the Senate just voted down the Dems’ radical abortion bill. 51 is greater than 49, even using Harvard math. You don’t get to call the losing side the majority just because you agree with it," wrote Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, referencing Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., joining all Republicans in voting against the bill.

"I mean… the filibuster didn’t even factor in. It lost 51-49. The majority literally did what it wanted to do: kill the bill," wrote conservative commentator Jason Rantz, while Republican California Senate candidate Mark Meuser tweeted, "We live in a constutional [sic] republic, not a democracy. Please read your constitution, something you already should have read since you took an oath to defend it."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, criticized Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a May 12, 2022 tweet over her claim that a minority of senators blocked passage on an abortion rights bill despite a majority of senators voting against it. (Screenshot/Twitter)

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Blaze editor Sam Mangold-Lenett joked that "democracy is when 49 senators beat 51 senators," and conservative commentator Mary Katharine Ham mocked Warren's accounting, saying, "It went down 51-49, girl. Math!"

Columnist Jeff Jacoby pointed out that Warren was also in the even larger minority of senators who wanted to scrap the filibuster, citing the 52-48 vote earlier this year against ending the rule.

"What did the filibuster have to do with the failure of the Dems' abortion bill in the Senate today???? 51 Senators -- a majority -- voted NO on the bill. It's like living in some surreal twisted world where Dems and media allies keep pretending the filibuster stopped the bill," wrote journalist Glenn Greenwald.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald criticized Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a May 12, 2022 tweet over her claim that a minority of senators blocked passage on an abortion rights bill despite a majority of senators voting against it. (Screenshot/Twitter)

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Others turned their criticism to Raju for not pushing back on Warren's claim.

"The bill only received 49 votes. That's a minority. Raju stands there and lets her get away with this," wrote conservative commentator Stephen Miller, while columnist Derek Hunter tweeted, "I get that [Elizabeth Warren] has an incentive to lie, I don't know why [Manu Raju] lets her do it unchallenged. He has to know 51 against and 49 in favor is not minority rule, right?"

Businessman Bernie Moreno accused Raju and The Hill, which originally posted the video of Warren's answer to Twitter, of "spreading misinformation," questioning why the former didn't press the senator on her filibuster claims and the latter flag her statements as "false."