How Pro-Choice Hero Wendy Davis and Texan Protestors Made Our Voices Heard
The controversial omnibus abortion restrictive bill SB5 was hotly debated into the early morning hours on Monday, June 24, in the Texas state House, as the minority party delayed the GOP from sending SB5 to the Senate that day. However, that was just a precursor as to how heated the fight for and against this bill (a bill that would make abortions after 20 weeks illegal, as well as shut down 42 out of the 47 abortion clinics in Texas) would be in the Senate.
In the Senate on Monday, the GOP attempted to fast track the SB legislation, but were ultimately defeated by the Democrats’ supermajority vote against this motion. Ultimately, the GOP was also unable to begin the debate on SB5 Monday night, which gave rise to rumors that Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) would begin a filibuster come Tuesday morning that have to last 13 hours in order to kill the bill by the special session’s midnight deadline.
On Tuesday morning, the Senate met to begin the debate on SB5, and protestors against the bill began to gather in the gallery of the Capital. Before the Senate house had even opened their doors, protestors came ready for the fight. According to Planned Parenthood Spokeswoman Danielle Wells, 350 protestors were present at the Texas state Senate by 9:45 am.
The Texas Tribune set up a livestream of the Texas Senate (Entitled, ‘Texas Senate Livestream 83(1)’ ) on Youtube . By 11 a.m., Senator Wendy Davis—armed in her bright orange tennis shoes—began her filibuster against SB5.
“The real aim of this bill is not to make women safer, but to force the closure of multiple facilities across the state of Texas without a single care or concern for the women whose lives will be impacted by that decision. Not a single care or concern,” Davis said during the live stream. According to the Texas Tribune, A man in the gallery then ardently responded, “Abortion is genocide; if you really cared about women … you would ban abortion completely.” He was subsequently escorted out of the gallery by a state trooper.
As part of her filibuster, Davis read testimonies of women who opposed SB5 and began to cry as she recounted the tragedies these women faced. Her senatorial supporters asked for more women to send in their testimonies for Davis to read. Davis had begun to use her filibuster as a voice for women who were silenced. However, protestors’ voices were ever-present in the gallery via their apparel: supporters of SB5 wore blue as those who opposed SB5 wore orange.
By 4 p.m., Sen. Bob Deuell (R-Greenville) tried to interrupt Davis’ filibuster with a stream of questions, but she would not relinquish the floor. Then, Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) attempted to call point of order against Davis for speaking about Planned Parenthood’s budget, a subject he explained was not relevant or germane to her speech. Lt. Governor David Dewhurst ruled in favor of Duell and issued Davis a warning. Nichols later attempted to get a strike against Sen. Kirk Watson (D-Austin ) for speaking about Roe V. Wade.
Three and a half hours later, Davis was issued yet another warning when Sen. Tommy Williams (R-The Woodlands) pointed out that she was given assistance from another senator when putting on a back brace during her filibuster. During her filibuster, Davis was not allowed to eat, drink, stop speaking, go to the restroom, or even lean on a desk. However, her supporters in the gallery, on social networking sites, and other locations were still behind her. Even President Barack Obama tweeted, “Something special is happening in Austin Tonight: #standwithwendy,” at 8:40 p.m. By 10 p.m., #standwithwendy was trending on twitter, and more than 100k viewers were watching the Texas Tribune’s livestream. Danielle Wells, Planned Parenthood spokeswoman, claimed that 1,500 protestors were present in the Texas Capitol building filling up 3 floors of the gallery.
When Sen. Donna Campbell (R-San Antonio) attempted to call a point order on Davis for irrelevantly speaking about the Texas abortion sonogram law (a law that requires women to have a sonogram—thus being able to see/hear/ listen to a description of the fetus—24 hours before a scheduled abortion). Davis attempted to assert the germaneness of the sonogram-abortion law, but she was eventually overruled. At this point, protestors in the gallery began to chant, “Let her speak,” but by 10:40, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst ruled this Davis’ final strike, thus ending her almost 11-hour filibuster.
Senator Watson then made a motion to appeal this point of order (thus giving Wendy a chance to continue her filibuster), but it eventually turned into a senatorial debate on whether or not Watson’s appeal should be tabled. Tabling Watson’s appeal would officially end Wendy’s filibuster, and open the senatorial floor for voting on SB5.
By 11 p.m., officers from Texas Department of Public Safety locked the doors to the Capitol building and would not allow anyone to leave the gallery. With an hour left to kill the SB5 bill, Watson began to filibuster Davis’ filibuster by venturing into a prolonged speech as to why Davis was germane in speaking about sonograms. Sen. Meredith Zaffirini (D-Laredo) set up a long stream of parliamentary inquiries to further delay voting on the bill, and Senator Royce West attempted to hold the floor and delay voting as well. And then this happened:
Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio), who had not been recognized by the Senate President before a vote to end Davis’ filibuster took place said, “At what point must a female senator raise her hand or voice to be recognized over the male colleagues in the room?” and the entire gallery erupted in cheering and screaming for 15 minutes straight. The chaos in the gallery made it impossible for voting on SB5 to commence before midnight. That’s right, after a nearly 12-hour filibuster, and then a filibuster about a filibuster, the protesters in the Texas Capitol proceeded to have a citizen’s filibuster by cheering so loudly they were successfully able to delay the vote.
However, in a last sad attempt to pass SB5, a vote still began at 12:02—though the time stamp was then initially altered to say the vote started before midnight. People the world over were watching the intense livestream commenting, “This is unconstitutional!” and “It cannot pass!” Hours after midnight, the livestream showed senators bunched together around desks discussing if the vote had been valid. Some Republican senators in the Capitol swore the vote had started before midnight, and other senators claimed they didn’t even know they were voting—or if they were voting on the bill or on the motion to table Watson’s appeal. Meanwhile, protestors in the gallery sang out their disbelief and unhappiness. One protestor was distinctly heard yelling out, “Watch how poverty rates will increase. Remember your constituents.” State troopers began to arrest some protestors and escort them out of the Capitol building.
CNN finally took a break from talking about muffinsto report that by 3 a.m., Lt. Governor David Dewhurst came forward to the senate floor to confirm the bill was dead and the special session over. After taking a couple of steps away, he then ominously returned to the podium to say, “Well, it’s over. It’s been fun, but uh … See you soon.”
According to the Star Telegram, two fire bombs were thrown into Wendy Davis’ Fort Worth office last year. Luckily, Davis was not in her office at the time, and she remained unharmed. If it was not for her extreme dedication, SB5 would have passed and thousands of women in Texas would have lost their safety and their right to choose. By the end of the livestream, 182K viewers joined in to watch these senators, protestors, and supporter’s of women’s rights fight tooth and nail against a bill that would have been an unjust infringement on women’s health. Thus it is imminent for those who opposed SB5 in Texas to understand that Tuesday’s filibuster was just one of the many battles women will have to fight to assert their rights, and to remember, remember last night’s fight in November.
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-EJ