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Wendy Davis' heroic stand

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In one of the more epic filibusters, Wendy Davis stood and delivered for 13 hours a filibuster that staved off a draconian anti-abortion bill in Texas.  This stopped the Senate from ram-rodding a bill pushed by Rick Perry, as the 30-day special legislative session expired at midnight and Ms. Davis was still standing in her now famous pink Mizuno tennis shoes.  These are one of the preferred shoes of marathon runners, and Ms. Davis stood for what would essentially be 3 marathons for most runners to stave off this measure.

She got help from some of her female colleagues, notably Leticia Van de Putte, who stood down a last minute effort by Republicans to force a vote over Wendy's filibuster.  Unlike other filibusters we have seen recently, this one had consequences, as this anti-abortion measure has been adopted in neighboring Oklahoma and Arkansas as well as other Southern and Plains states.  Hopefully, this incredible stand will call attention to the nation-wide effort of conservative groups to greatly limit a women's right to her own body.

Comments

  1. avrdsJune 30, 2013 at 5:42 PM

    I'm going to save for a pair of Mizunos so I can stand in her shoes! Now that is a leader!

    ReplyDelete
  2. James FergusonJuly 1, 2013 at 6:48 AM

    Very much impressed as well. Interesting that the states that decry Sharia laws so much are the ones looking to institute their own interpretation of Biblical law.

    ReplyDelete
  3. avrdsJuly 2, 2013 at 1:35 AM

    They all do seem to go after women. Barefoot and pregnant is how they appear to want to keep half the population of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  4. James FergusonJuly 2, 2013 at 7:05 AM

    Round two begins,

    http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/07/texas_abortion_fight_legislatu.html

    These guys simply don't know to leave well enough alone.

    ReplyDelete
  5. avrdsJuly 3, 2013 at 1:46 AM

    And it is all guys -- they don't even try to enlist the support of women for any of these bills.

    I think this is part of the win-the-conservative-white-vote strategy that some foolishly think is the only way Republicans can win a national election. (They have the local ones tied up by gerrymandering)

    The problem of course is that for the most part they are only going to get conservative male voters who look and think like themselves, since even Republican women support having legal access to abortion.

    http://thecommongood.net/2012/04/whitman-most-republican-women-support-abortion-rights/

    Needless to say, she didn't succeed in her 2012 quest.

    ReplyDelete
  6. James FergusonJuly 3, 2013 at 9:52 AM

    I really don't get this "war on women" taking place. The Republicans have to know their base of support is eroding, yet they continue to act like a dominant power with god on their side. I can only imagine how infuriating this is to women.

    ReplyDelete

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