In Texas, Abortion Battle Is Set to Resume
With sweeping abortion legislation poised to come before Texas lawmakers again this week, activists on both sides mobilized to bring protesters to the Capitol in Austin.
Last week’s confrontation in the state Senate led to a filibuster and a late-night vote that riveted the nation. Republicans initially said the measure had passed, but the Senate’s presiding officer, Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, later conceded that the vote had occurred after the Legislature’s special session expired at midnight.
Gov. Rick Perry then called another 30-day special session to take up the bill, which would bar abortion after 20 weeks’ gestation and force abortion providers to upgrade or close, effectively limiting access to the procedure statewide, opponents say. The new session is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Monday.
New abortion legislation has already been resubmitted in the Legislature. The state House passed the measure during the previous special session, and Perry has said he will sign it.
The measure’s failure last week came in part because of raucous protests from the gallery, as well as the marathon filibuster by state Sen. Wendy Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat.