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Wendy Davis and Texas : What's Happened Since 12 A.M.

by Lane Florsheim

Last night, something special happened in Texas. If you don't take my word for it, take President Obama's.

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D) started a filibuster at 11:18 am. The help of her pro-choice Senate peers and an amazing gallery crowd helped the filibuster last until midnight after Republican senators tried to stop Davis by accusing her of receiving three strikes in violation of the Texas Senate's procedural rules for a filibuster. Davis' filibuster successfully blocked SB5, the restrictive abortion legislature that pro-life Republicans and Democrats were trying to pass.

So, what's happened since?

  • ICYMI: Some lunatic threw two firebombs into state Sen. Davis' office last night. Luckily, no one was injured, but some staff members were present, and the office was damaged.
  • Wendy Davis' pink running shoes also became overnight stars. And they can be yours. Get them now at Mizuno before they sell out.
  • The Twitterverse discovered Texas Republicans tried to do a little bit of illegal manipulating to the session's timestamp to allow the roll call vote that would have passed the bill... as it is wont to do when 180,000 are watching the livestream of a monumental event like this one.
  • Bad news on the abortion front in Ohio: The Republican-dominated state legislature added an amendment requiring doctors to inform pregnant women in writing about the presence of a fetal heartbeat before the procedure. The amendment also requires providers to say the statistical probability of bringing the fetus to term. State Rep. Mike Foley (D) accused the Republican majority of “being obsessed with abortion.” Sounds about right.
  • And, oh, no. This:

Meaning this is certainly not the last we've heard on SB5. Come on, Texas Republicans. This is what they call, "being on the right side of history."