Wendy Davis Didn’t Stand For 12 Hours In Vain: Federal Judge Declares Texas Abortion Restrictions Unconstitutional

I stand with Wendy, you stand with Wendy, and a federal judge is standing with Wendy, too. The most awesome filibuster of all time was not executed in vain. A federal judge declared today new abortion restrictions passed by the Texas Legislature are unconstitutional and will not take effect tomorrow as scheduled.

From The Washington Post:

District Judge Lee Yeakel wrote Monday that the regulations violated the rights of abortion doctors to do what they think is best for their patients and would unreasonably restrict a woman’s access to abortion clinics.

Lawyers for Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers brought the lawsuit, arguing that a requirement that doctors have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the abortion clinic would force the closure of a third of the clinics in Texas. They also complained that requiring doctors to follow the Food and Drug Administration’s original label for an abortion-inducing drug would deny women the benefit of recent advances in medical science.

The proposed restrictions were put in the spotlight when Democratic Senator Wendy Davis stood on her feet for almost 13 hours – executing the most awesome filibuster of all time. The law was to ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and would require doctors to perform all abortions in surgical facilities. This would have shuttered clinics in the most underserved sections of the state.

Governor Rick Perry called a second special legislative session so all of his Republican friends could pass the bogus law. You can’t keep a good woman down, Rick – didn’t anyone ever tell you that? Davis is now running for governor. This is probably the only time in my life I have ever wished I lived in Texas. I would love to cast that ballot.

Yeakel’s order is a final decision, setting the groundwork for the 5th Circuit to review the merits of the law, not just an injunction against it.

Yes!

(photo: Sebastion Gelbke/ Shutterstock)