AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Former state Sen. Wendy Davis says Monday’s Supreme Court ruling striking down Texas’ abortion law validates a 2013 filibuster she staged against it.
Davis tweeted: “Today made that day 3 yrs ago all worth it!”
Davis later said she burst into tears when she learned of the ruling.
Davis said she views the 5-3 decision as the justices shutting down future efforts by Republican-controlled states to impose what she called “sham laws” on abortion providers. She also said that abortion services in some underserved Texas areas could return over the next six months.
The then-Democratic senator from Fort Worth stood in the Texas Senate for 11-plus hours three years ago, temporarily blocking passage of the law calling for extensive restrictions on abortions.
The GOP-controlled state Legislature easily passed the bill in a subsequent special session.
The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-3 in support of Texas clinics, which argued that the regulations were an attempt to make it harder for women to get abortions.
The filibuster made Davis – and the pink tennis shoes she wore – a national sensation in liberal circles and vaulted her to the Democratic nomination for governor in 2014. She was soundly defeated by Republican Greg Abbott.
Abbott said Monday that the Supreme Court decision “subjects more innocent life to being lost.”
The former state attorney general said in a statement that the ruling “erodes states’ lawmaking authority to safeguard the health and safety of women.”
The law was approved by Texas’ Republican-controlled Legislature in 2013, and lawmakers in other conservative states have since passed similar measures.
Abbott said his state’s goal remains “to protect innocent life, while ensuring the highest health and safety standards for women.”