Germane

Sine Die!

When I got home from work yesterday, the Lone Star Girl had Senator Davis' filibuster of Senate Bill 5 live streaming on the computer and was regularly updating her friends online, so there was no computer for me.  And we were up way, way too late watching it all go down.  I have to go to work in a few minutes, so I will address yesterday's  Supreme Court decision on the Voting Rights Act later, but at least something good happened in Texas.

Senate Bill 5 would have banned abortions in Texas after 20 weeks. The really bad provisions in it, however, were about regulating clinics where abortions can be performed.   Under the false auspices of safety, the Bill required so many regulations  - that are not required for more dangerous outpatient proecedures - that only around seven of the clinics providing abortions in Texas would have remained open.  Texas being larger than most countries and already having laws in place that require that women to set up appointments and go get rape-by-proxy transvaginal sonograms before getting an abortion, the hours that a woman would have to travel, before and after an abortion under the bill, put extreme obstructions in the way of a woman exercising her constitutional right, and would often make it impossible.  

It was basically the bill to bring back death-by-coat-hangers.

The Republicans did everything to bring Senator Davis down.  They dishonestly called points of order that blatantly relevant arguments about the bill that she was explaining were not germane.  Since Senator Davis must sometimes wear a back brace, when she had to put it on during the filibuster, they called a point of order about her getting assistance in putting it on.  I guess if my daughter had been filibustering and had needed her epi-pen, that would have been a point of order, too.  

The Republicans shut down the filibuster but could not shut down Texas women and their supporters.  Senators Watson, Van De Putte (so sorry for the loss of your father, Senator), West, Zaffirini and Whitmire worked hard to keep things going until midnight and when the Republicans completely ignored Senate procedures to move forward with their vote, riots very nearly broke out in the gallery.  I thought the Republicans  were going to need the Rangers to get out of there alive, y'all - it looked scary.

Since many Senators could not hear the vote before midnight when the Special Session ended, it could not be enrolled and it is dead.

Wendy Davis for Governor!