Heads UP! (Will be updated throughout the day)
UPDATE: 11:4o Texas Time/ Texas Senator Wendy Davis has started her filibuster. You can watch here: http://www.texastribune.org/
Texas Senator Wendy Davis will need your stories to fill up all those hours she has to stand and filibuster.
Tell Wendy why you believe women’s reproductive rights are important to us all. Write your story, and click here to send it to her.
I will post right here when she begins and a link where you can watch it live.
Meanwhile, from Colorado, my friend and fellow State Democratic Executive Committee member Vickie Vogel (holding the sign), a true Texas except for the summers she spends in Colorado, stands with Wendy.
Vickie Vogel rounding up Democrats in Colorado!
This whole mess is not about abortion. Lots of us are against abortion but we still think that women should be able to take care of themselves. If you’ve been watching you know. Nobody should be stuck with being pregnant from rape or incest, or if she thinks the doctor and the other men in her life have to choose between her and the unborn fetus and she has no say in it. And while I’m at it, anyone who thinks a fertilized egg is a fetus is in charge of changing its diapers.
1Because my mother was a victim of rape/incest, when I was born she was not sure of my heritage…my younger brother had my fathers blue eyes, so she knew my father was his father…she tried to abort me…she was 16…and a divorced woman by the time she was 21. The ensuing poverty, including hunger and so much moving–her booze, drugs and the brutality of our daily lives, could have been avoided by a simple medical procedure…if you think “I” would have been lost somehow–you have a funny idea of what omnipotence is,
2The universe cannot lose part of itself–for a group of people that is taught there is no death, it looks like they are all tangled up in things that are not there’s to control–life occurs at the first breath–it’s up to us to make sure that that child is welcome and wanted..you can just call me brown-eyed girl…
Marge, sorry, but your thinking is exactly what is wrong with the abortion debate. You say “lots of us are against abortion but … nobody should be stuck with being pregnant from rape or incest.”
Flawed logic, Marge.
Either it is a human life (which I don’t believe) or it is not. You don’t get to decide that it is not a human life if it came about from rape or incest. That just is completely ignorant from some ridiculous religion.
The anti-abortion crowd doesn’t really care about abortion. They just want to punish women for the sexuality.
Get over it. Women can have sex. And actually enjoy it.
If we aborted every fetus that came about when the woman didn’t enjoy the sex, I doubt that most of us would be alive today. (Straight guys, you need to step up your game.)
And nobody LIKES abortion, Marge. I’ve never know a woman who thought “oh, I’ll just go out and have lots and lots of sex until I get pregnant so I can have an abortion.”
I think the figures are that 1/3 of women in this country will have or have had an abortion some time in their lives. (I could be wrong on the number but I know it is significant.) I personally know many, many of my friends that have had an abortion. And not one of them has made that decision lightly.
The decision to have an abortion — or not — is entirely up to the woman who is pregnant. Her body, her decision. Rape or incest has nothing to do with it.
A woman’s body is hers and hers alone. As is a man’s.
3I think it would be very helpful if she could obtain a rape kit (or at least a list of its contents) and talk about the function of each item. I hope it was a sleep-deprivation-induced hallucination, but I think I saw one of your legislators say that nobody could possibly get pregnant after a rape because rape kits “clean them out.” I had some harsh words for her.
4This bill is not about abortion, incest, rape, or a whole slew of other things getting thrown around… it is about choice.
5Just so, Miss. I sent this:
My husband and I found ourselves unexpectedly pregnant shortly after the birth of our first child. The marriage was in crisis and the stress of two children under 18 months old would have ended it. We decided on an abortion, which took place in a safe, clean, professional office in a nondescript high rise. We have now been married 28 years and have 3 smart, beautiful, beloved kids. Our choice was right for us and our family, and I can’t imagine any good reason why the Texas legislature should have any say in the if/ when/ where of our decision.
6Excellent link, I sent some words for Ms. Davis to read, should she need extra fodder.
Wishing I could be in Austin to stand for this. My heart is breaking for all the women of Texas.
I hope those assholes know we will remember their votes at the next election..and the one after that, and the one after that…and so on and so on.
7Almost 30 years ago, my good friend was married with a one-year-old when her husband, the primary breadwinner, lost his job. As conservative as they were about money, they didn’t have much saved. He had been looking for work anywhere in the US (highly specialized field) for a month when she discovered she was about five weeks pregnant. Knowing the pregnancy and any complications wouldn’t be required to be covered as a Pre-existing Condition, she had an abortion in one of the cities that will lose access because of this ridiculous legislation which we all know has Nothing to do with preserving women’s health.
8Oh yeah, she still hasn’t developed breast cancer (or any other cancer) even though she’s had an abortion. 😉
Thanks for the link to Sen. Davis’ filibuster. She’s amazing! The stories are heartbreaking, at times.
Just in case it works, I’m sending her lots of energy.
9Last ti8me I looked on my computer homepage, the article about Wendy had 1611 comments, I did not read them all – what I read was very much in favor of her.
10Also very amazed at her ability to stand so long without using the bathroom!
Not just no potty breaks:
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/06/25/texplainer-what-are-rules-filibuster/
During a filibuster, a senator is limited to topics relevant to the bill being discussed and cannot eat, drink or use the restroom during the speech. The rules also prohibit sitting or leaning on a desk or chair under any circumstances when the senator has the floor and is speaking on the bill or resolution.
Filibusters end either when the senator voluntarily yields the floor or after three violations of the rules for decorum and debate. After the third violation, the Senate can vote on a point of order, which if sustained would force the senator to yield the floor, according to the Legislative Reference Library of Texas website.
11Wendy and Senfornia are my sheroes.
12At 6:48 and counting down. Who is that guy on the phone picking his nose!!!! Someone should tell him to get out of the shot.
13A bit of background:
Mothers, Sisters, Daughters, Wives
If you want to know more about TX abortion wars, this @TexasMonthly article won a National Magazine Award & is superb http://bit.ly/1aLrqyY
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/mothers-sisters-daughters-wives?fullpage=1
14Just my story, now I’m off to work in vacation bible school at my church with my two darling god-daughter. After that, I’ll be off to the Senate Gallery wearing my orange shirt and straw hat with orange scarve to stand in support of Senator Davis and the women of Texas who need the services that would be gutted by this bill.
15Who is that jackass complaining about a backbrace for Wendy? That fatass slob is a pig
16JJ, thank you for the link. I will be standing to watch Senator Davis throughout her ordeal tonight & sending loads of positive energy all the way from Georgia. I, too, had my 2 children within 12 months of each other in 1963-64, while still a teenager & working to put hubby through college. I was so ignorant back then, I didn’t even know there was an option. By the time Roe v. Wade was decided, I was in college myself, headed to law school.
We must never forget the Constitutional basis for the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade – to establish women’s right to privacy under the Constitution, which is why that decision has withstood each & every challenge since 1973.
So… please repeat over & over again tonight while Sen. Davis is speaking – the right to privacy is as sacrosanct as the right to bear arms under the Constitution. If one right goes down, so should the other right because, after all, life is precious.
17If you’re on Texas Tribune, be sure and look for comments by “Lorna Presswood”. It’ll make you grateful you’re not on the GOP side.
18i’m watching this live on TPM’s site……it’s national and everyone’s watching
19