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Abortion Bill Testifiers Offer "Repetitive" Arguments

by Katherine Johnson

Over 700 Texans signed up Thursday to testify against a sweeping anti-abortion bill, House Bill 60. The bill is on the special session calendar in the Texas House, and would seek to limit abortion by banning the procedure after 20 weeks, and requiring providers to have admitting privileges to a hospital within 30 miles of their clinics.

So many Texans showed up to voice their dissent at the hearing on the bill that after seven hours of testimony, a Texas Representative tried to shut down the "Citizen's Filibuster" around midnight. Representative Byron Cook called for only one more hour of testimony after arguments became "repetitive," a decision that was met with shouting fromt he crowd. Cook later ended the night without a vote on the controversial bill, and the committee hearing adjourned close to 4 AM.

News of the filibuster spread to Twitter, where #HB60 began to trend.

Update: Texas' House Affairs Committee passed the abortion restrictions on Friday with a party line vote.