I was on the edge of my seat this afternoon following the #SB5 hashtag on Twitter. Good context from the Guardian here.
For thirteen hours, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis filibustered a bill which would close 30 abortion clinics in the state, leaving only 5 to provide medical care to its 26 million inhabitants.
She couldn’t sit, or lean, or take a sip of water, or pee, or stop talking. She was challenged by antichoice Republicans for daring to go “off-topic” by talking about sonograms – which you’re forced to get in Texas before an abortion – and Planned Parenthood – who, among other health services, provide abortions.
She stood and spoke and shared the stories of people who needed abortion services, who are being ignored by the kind of blinkered fundamentalists who think female bodies can just “shut down” pregnancies caused by rape or that rape kits cause abortions.
And at the end of the day the bastards tried to cheat their way through anyway, claiming the vote on the bill was taken before midnight when hundreds of thousands of people watching live knew damn well they hadn’t.
They’d raised a point of order against her because she needed help with her back brace, and then they tried to pretend that 12:03 was really 11:59 to get their way. That’s the hypocrisy of the antichoice movement in a nutshell: one rule for women, another/none for themselves.
Wendy Davis, you are one badass state senator.
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And lest you think this is just a Republican-heavy US state issue? See Coley Tangerina.
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