All she had to do was stand and discuss abortion for 13 hours. That’s right. That was all. A daunting task by no stretch of the imagination. But this national hero took the challenge head on. Wearing a back brace and pink sneakers, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis decided that she would stand up for women’s rights, literally. She would tell their stories to a waiting congress poised to shut her down for any tiny infraction. And she did so yesterday in a 13-hour filibuster to stop a Republican produced anti-abortion bill.
SB5, called the “toughest” abortion bill in the nation, would criminalize abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and enact a series of severe restrictions on doctors who provide care. Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards says the effort would have “virtually banned” abortion in the state of Texas. Which is exactly what proponents of the bill would like. Even the sponsor of the bill, Rep. Jodie Laubenberg (R), believes putting an exemption in the law for victims of rape and incest is unnecessary because these women have already been “cleaned out” by emergency room “rape kits.” Yes, a woman said this. “Cleaned out” is the term she used for victims of rape and incest as if they require a bit of “Easy Off” like a stubborn, dirty oven.
The bill required:
- many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers
- doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles — a tough requirement in rural communities
If the bill passed “all but 5 abortion clinics [out of 47] in the entire state would be forced to close their doors” according to Choice USA — but not on Wendy Davis’ watch. As reported by RH Reality Check.com, according to the rules of filibuster, Davis had to stand with no breaks for water or the bathroom. She couldn’t lean on an object for support, or receive assistance. She had to last until midnight and stay on topics germane to the bill. If she complied, the special session that was called by Gov. Rick Perry would end without a vote.
She was cited three times for breaking procedure, twice for straying from the topic at hand when she discussed Planned Parenthood budgeting and sonograms, and once when a colleague helped her adjust her back brace. Republicans attempted to shut her down, at that point fellow Democratic senators launched a two-hour debate on parliamentary procedure wherein Texas State Senator Leticia Van de Putte asked the significant question, “At what point must a female Senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over her male colleagues in the room?” And if that doesn’t put a fine point on this whole argument — well, we don’t know what else does.
Throughout the day and evening Davis was supported by abortion-rights activists who came to the legislature. And in order to fill the many hours she had to speak, she did so using the stories she’d collected from women about their experiences. And her efforts were not for naught.
The bill did not pass — though not for lack of trying using unlawful methods by Republicans. Several news outlets reported that the bill had passed as David Dewhurst, Texas’ Lt. Gov. reported that the vote was called before 12am on June 26th. BUT! Screengrabs of the official SB5 results page showed the vote was called after midnight — and someone adjusted the results to say otherwise. Dewhurst had to concede that the vote was too late and was officially dead.
In true dastardly villain nature, the sour grapes of the Republicans could be heard when Dewhurst had this to say:
“I am furious about the outcome of the final day of this Special Session, when an unruly, screaming mob using “Occupy Wall Street” tactics derailed legislation intended to protect the health of Texas women and their babies. An unconscionable series of delaying actions by the minority party and their allies placed SB 5 in direct jeopardy of death-by-filibuster upon its arrival in the Senate. Pushing every parliamentary procedure to its limit, we passed SB 5 19-10, but the deafening roar from the gallery drowned out any possibility of adjourning with a signed bill. I pledge to Texas one thing: this fight is far from over.”
And then he twirled his mustache and jumped onto the boxcar of a moving train from a 1920’s film talkie.
At any rate, opposition aside, Davis proved that standing up for the rights of women can be done with the help of pink sneakers, true stories, and people who will yell to the rafters about keeping choice alive.
