The nation woke up this morning to hear about the stunning turn of events at the Texas legislature in Austin. After staging an epic, old-fashioned filibuster, the Democrats continued to delay passage of the bill and after the vote happened, the state’s lieutenant governor had to admit that the vote violated procedures.
Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth came prepared to filibuster the bill, starting early Tuesday and wearing pink sneakers. According to Fox News, Republicans argued that she had gone off topic and complained when another Democrat tried to help her keep standing up. That ended the filibuster, but not before she gained widespread attention on Twitter. She had over 20,000 followers by the end of Tuesday and even President Obama mentioned her in a tweet.
“My back hurts. I don't have a lot of words left,” Davis said at the end. “It shows the determination and spirit of Texas women.”
While she didn’t get to keep the filibuster going until midnight, Democrats continued to delay the proceedings to the point that the vote didn’t get to take place before 12:00 a.m. The New York Times reports that Democrats said that the vote didn’t take place until minutes after midnight, but Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst insisted for three hours that the vote had happened on time and that the bill passed.
However, at 3 a.m. this morning, Dewhurst admitted that the vote didn’t take place according to rules and the bill, known as SB 5, will have to wait longer to become law. It is supported by Gov. Rick Perry and is widely expected to pass during the next legislative session, so this is only a brief victory for Democrats.
SB 5 bans abortions after 20 weeks and forces abortion clinics to upgrade and become ‘ambulatory surgical centers.’ Opponents say that it would mean that only five of the 42 clinics in the state will remain open, since the costs to upgrade are too much.