A bill that opponents said threatened to all but eliminate every abortion clinic in Texas failed to pass late Tuesday after lawmakers missed a deadline by minutes due to a nearly 13 hour filibuster by one Democratic state senator, NBC News reported. Chaotic scenes erupted after a filibuster attempt fell just short as protesters shouted for over 15 minutes up to midnight, as lawmakers tried to hold the vote before the session ended at midnight.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst suspended Democrat State Senator Wendy Davis's 13 hour filibuster against wide-ranging abortion restrictions. The lieutanant governor determined that she strayed off topic. Davis spent nearly 13 consecutive hours standing in her tennis shoes, in a last ditch attempt to block a Republican-led effort to impose tough new abortion restrictions throughout Texas.
If signed into law, the measures would close almost every abortion clinic in Texas.
Early on in her filibuster, Davis said she called Republican efforts to impose stringent anti-abortion measures a "raw abuse of power," saying she was "rising on the floor today to humbly give voice to thousands of Texans."
Two times in the first six hours of the senator's filibuster, anti-abortion lawmakers questioned Davis about the bill; "This is really about women's health," said Sen. Bob Deuell, who introduced a requirement that all abortions take place in surgical centers. "Sometimes bad things can happen."
Davis read testimony from women and doctors.
The senator, and many Democrats in the state are against a new bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, forcing clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers.
Doctors would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles -- a tall order in rural communities.
Many clinics would be forced to shut down because they wouldn't be able to afford the changes required by the law, CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez report, citing a CEO from Whole Woman's Health who said it would cost close to $2 million for each of her clinics to be upgraded to hospital-style operating rooms.
