WHATS HAPPENING IM ON MY PHONE AND I CANT GO ON YOUR TAGS WHY ARE THERE RIOTS IN TEXAS WHY IS THERE SO MANY ABORTION PROTESTING WHAT
“Senator Wendy Davis filibusters Texas Senate bill SB5 that would close 37of the 42 abortion clinics in Texas, the largest state in the contiguous lower 48 states. She has to stand, without leaning, without using the restroom, without food or drink, the entire time. She has to stay “on topic” discussing only “germane” issues.
During the filibuster, she is sanctioned twice for discussing topics that are not “germane.” One of these topics? Sonograms. In a state where a woman must get a sonogram before she can have an abortion, per state legislation in 2012. The other sanction? Being helped with her back brace.
This is the sort of thing the word bullshit was created for.
The sonogram thing came up about 2 hours before the end of the session and then there was lots of parliamentary discussion about points of order and so on.
The vote on SB5 could only be called before midnight.
About ten minutes before midnight, which is it say 11:50 pm using that quaint time system we all follow and that my three-year-old niece understands, women in the gallery started shouting and screaming to prevent the vote. It’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever heard. I’m not going to forget it. Gave me a chill. Has me all the way charged up after feeling pretty tapped out politically lately. Made me proud to be a woman, and to be a feminist, and to be sentient, and to be a voter in this motherfucking democracy.
They did not settle down until after midnight. According to the RULES, the same byzantine rules that demanded Senator Davis stand for thirteen hours without respite, the vote could not be called. The vote was done anyway, even though more than 180,000 people, from across the country, were watching the livestream on YouTube. This is to say, they cheated, flagrantly, in plain sight, because they thought they could.
And why were so many of us watching this amazing set of events happen on a YouTube stream? Because none of the major news networks, not one, carried or covered the last hours of the filibuster.”
