After Epic Filibuster, Abortion Fight Is Back

 

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The legislative process now starts over, with lawmakers filing bills, committees holding public hearings on each, then passing them to both full chambers to consider. That means reviving the proposals Davis and the protesters killed: banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, requiring that the procedure be performed at ambulatory surgical centers, and mandating that doctors who perform abortions obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.

Supporters say such limits will safeguard women's health, but opponents argue the upgrades facilities will have to undergo to meet the new requirements are so costly that they will force nearly every abortion provider in the state to close. Dewhurst has acknowledged that the ultimate goal is to shutter abortion clinics.

Meanwhile, some of the Legislature's most outspoken critics of abortion, including state Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston, have refiled bills that stalled even before Davis' filibuster — hoping they can push through stricter restrictions. Patrick, who has announced he will challenge Dewhurst and run next year for lieutenant governor, revived one of his pet projects — a bill placing more rules on the use of abortion-inducing drugs such as RU-486.

Davis, who donned pink tennis shoes for the marathon speech that made her an overnight political sensation nationwide, hasn't said if she would try something similar again. And, calling more special sessions has squashed Democratic stonewall tactics before.

In 2003, House Democrats fled to Oklahoma to keep the chamber from making quorum and passing new redistricting maps that benefited Republicans. When Perry called a first and then second special session, Senate Democrats headed to New Mexico. But the maps were approved during a third extra session that year.

Even so, Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, vowed: "As this last week has shown, we are ready to fight."