AUSTIN — The special legislative session erupted in chaos late Tuesday over an abortion bill, with an extraordinary protest from abortion-rights advocates watching the debate and uncertainty over whether the measure was properly passed.
Republicans contend that senators voted 19-10 in favor of the bill, almost entirely along party lines. But Democrats said that the vote came too late and that the matter could end up in court.
The extended drama came after Republicans used strict interpretations of Senate rules to knock Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, off her marathon filibuster. The final vote was delayed several minutes by loud applause from the gallery, drowning out the action on the floor.
That followed more than an hour and a half of tense debate over Senate rules and decorum, after Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst ruled on a procedural point that the filibuster must end.
Earlier, as the debate on the bill unfolded, Sen. Eddie Lucio of Brownsville, the lone Democratic senator to back the bill, decried the tens of millions of abortions performed since the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in 1973.
"No one's talked about the rights of the unborn," he said. "They don't have any, because of Roe vs. Wade."
The legislation, Davis said, adds up to "a greater and greater and greater challenge to women in the state of Texas to do what? To exercise her constitutional protected right to have an abortion, to exercise the most difficult decision of her life."
She lamented that the bill appeared to be an effort to circumvent the Constitution and ban abortion by forcing most Texas clinics to close, which the measure's supporters hotly disputed.
Though Democrats may not have stopped the bill, the 11-hour filibuster was heard around the nati on. It brought crowds to the Capitol not seen in decades, if ever, with a packed gallery wearing supportive orange and a line of hundreds circling the rotunda for a chance to get a seat and hundreds of thousands of people — or more — watching online.
When Dewhurst ruled on the filibuster, abortion-rights advocates erupted in angry cries and chants of "let her speak." Democrats fought the ruling, prompting Dewhurst to step aside from his presiding position for a long debate on Senate rules.
Davis' effort pushed her name to a national top spot on Twitter, meaning hundreds of thousands followed her filibuster electronically throughout the day.
It attracted Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, to return to Texas and the Capitol to proclaim the attacks on women's rights must stop: "Enough is enough." She is the daughter of former Gov. Ann Richards, hailed as a pioneer by women who packe d the Capitol heeding a call to "stand with Wendy."
And it prompted a rancorous fight in the usually genteel Senate over fairness, with the Republican majority using a procedural vote to threaten Davis' filibuster because she received help putting on a back brace. Senate rules require a filibustering member to stand alone and speak on the matter at hand — no leaning, no food or water, and no help from others.
The legislation would give Texas one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the country.
Abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy would be banned. All clinics would be required to be upgraded to high-standard surgical centers, likely prompting many to close. Doctors would need admitting privileges at hospitals. And new restrictions would be placed on abortion-inducing pill procedures.
Supporters said the measure will bring vast improvement for women's health and safety.
< p align="justify">In a day filled with heartfelt discussion, a flourish of props and numerous technical questions to knock Davis off the filibuster, lawmakers teetered on whether the bill would make it to the governor's desk.Perry added the abortion topic to the session halfway through, and because of delays caused by procedures, hearings, and a late decision to add the 20-week ban, it came down to the last day.
The greatly outnumbered Democrats were left with one last arrow in their quiver: the filibuster. Davis rose at 11:17 a.m., wearing pink and lime green running shoes, determined to talk to midnight and push the bill past the legislative deadline.
Davis said she was speaking for women who "have been silenced by a governor who made blind partisanship and personal political ambition the official business of our great state."
Referring to a Twitter posting in which Dewhurst hail ed the possibility of closed clinics, Davis said the real intent was not to help women. She said the bill would interfere with the doctor-patient relationship, impose new regulations without any medical basis and eliminate safe and legal abortions to poor women and those who could not travel.
Taking aim at the Republican leadership, Davis said that the bill, passed without any Democratic amendments designed to mitigate the most devastating effects, is to feed a narrow political interest.
"Partisanship and ambition is not unusual in this state Capitol, but here in Texas, right now it has risen to a level of profound irresponsibility and the raw abuse of power," Davis said.
Dewhurst, presiding over the Senate, tweeted his response: "Today's debate is about protecting the health of women AND their babies."
Tension dominated the Senate in the early evening, as Sen. Tommy Williams, R -The Woodlands, raised a question about the back brace. Democrats pointed to several instances of past filibusters when senators quietly helped a colleague, even if they disagreed on the issue, to maintain collegiality.
"At some point you've got to decide: Is winning everything, or do traditions in this body mean something to you?" asked Sen. Rodney Ellis, the Houston Democrat who assisted Davis.
Williams said it was he who was defending the Senate's ways.
"The tradition of this filibuster in the Senate has always been that you had to do it on your own," he said.
Earlier, Republican House members appeared with stacks of 84,610 blank sheets of pink and blue paper, one for each abortion performed last year in Texas.
Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, said that while Davis read letters written by opponents of the abortion bill, he wanted to represent "all those letters that will never be written."
He said they would deliver the blank letters to Davis' office for her to contemplate.
Stickland, along with five other representatives, said they hoped the legislation would shut down abortion clinics.
Rep. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, said after 20 weeks of pregnancy, "these are little unborn babies."
"Yes, there will be fewer abortions, and that's good. And for those fewer abortions, there'll be better procedures," Hughes said.
Davis and other opponents cite that less than 1 percent of abortions occur after 20 weeks, and many are wanted pregnancies terminated because of severe fetal abnormalities. Under the legislation, an abortion could still be performed in such cases.
While anti-abortion forces rejoiced at their apparent victory, Richards warned that the overreach of the new restrictio ns "may just be the straw that broke the camel's back."
"With every attack, Gov. Perry and his allies have poured kerosene on a fire. It's catching across the state, and we're not going back," she said.
Follow Christy Hoppe on Twitter at @christyhoppe and Claire Cardona at @clairezcardona.
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