"Perry targets abortion issue, again; 2d session called in Texas after chaotic filibuster" by Jim Vertuno and Chris Tomlinson | Associated Press, June 27, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas — Governor Rick Perry called a second 30-day special session of the Texas Legislature on Wednesday to pass widespread abortion restrictions across the nation’s second-largest state, after the first attempt by Republicans died following a marathon one-woman filibuster.
Perry ordered lawmakers to meet July 1 to act on the abortion proposals and two other issues. The abortion rules would close nearly all the state’s abortion clinics and ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The debate about abortion restrictions led to the most chaotic day in the Texas Legislature in modern history, starting with a marathon filibuster and ending with a down-to-the wire, frenetic vote marked by questions on whether Republicans tried to break chamber rules and jam the measure through.
Senator Wendy Davis, a Democrat, made a daylong attempt to talk the bill to death. During the speech, Davis became a social media star.
But just before midnight, when the session was to end, Republicans said she strayed off topic and got help with a back brace — breaking filibuster rules — and cut her off. That cleared the way for a vote.
But when Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, a Republican, tried to call the final votes, nobody seemed to hear. Some 400 supporters in the gallery took to their feet with a roar, drowning out his voice.
Dewhurst gathered GOP lawmakers to register votes. Democrats held up cellphones, which showed it was past midnight. But Dewhurst and other Republicans insisted the first vote was cast before midnight by the Legislature’s clock and that the bill had passed.
By the time decorum was restored and the 19-10 vote in favor of the measure was recorded, the clock read 12:03 a.m. The bill had passed, but did it count? Were votes tallied in time? After protests from angry Democrats, senators met privately with Dewhurst for more than an hour. Eventually, he declared that while the bill had passed, he did not have time to sign it, so it was not approved. In return for declaring the measure dead, Democrats promised not to question the date of the vote any further.
Wow.
"Republicans insisted the vote started before the midnight deadline and passed the bill that Democrats spent the day trying to kill. But after official computer records and printouts of the voting record showed the vote took place Wednesday, and then were changed to read Tuesday, senators retreated into a private meeting to reach a conclusion."
Isn't forgery a CRIME?
And the Democrats decided to keep their mouth shut for a nothing victory?
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"Perry uses senator’s tough early life to criticize filibuster; Lawmaker helped stop restrictive Texas abortion law" by Will Weissert | Associated Press, June 28, 2013
GRAPEVINE, Texas — Governor Rick Perry hit back on Thursday at the star of a Democratic filibuster that killed tough abortion restrictions, saying state Senator Wendy Davis’s rise from a tough upbringing should have taught her the value of each human life....
Before the battle over abortion in the second-largest state turned personal, the Democrat from Fort Worth staged a marathon filibuster Tuesday that helped defeat an omnibus bill further limiting abortion in a state where it’s already difficult to undergo them. But Perry called lawmakers back for a second special session next week to try to finish the job.
‘‘Who are we to say that children born in the worst of circumstances can’t lead successful lives?’’ Perry said in a speech to nearly 1,000 delegates at the National Right to Life Conference in suburban Dallas. ‘‘Even the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances.’’
Davis, now 50, started working at age 14 to help support her single mother and three siblings.
By 19, she was married and divorced with a child of her own, but she eventually graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and won her Senate seat in an upset.
Perry pointed out that personal history in his speech, adding ‘‘it’s just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters.’’
In comments to reporters later, he went even further....
Davis quickly blasted Perry’s comments....
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