Texas Candidate Wendy Davis Reveals Abortions In Past

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis has revealed in a campaign memoir that she had two abortions for medical reasons in the 1990s. The book, titled Forgetting to be Afraid, reveals that she had an abortion after an exam revealed that the brain of the fetus had developed in separation. Wendy Davis had another abortion when the embryo implanted outside her uterus (ectopic pregnancy).

The book, which enters stores on Tuesday, details for the first time the abortions Wendy Davis had before her political career began. Davis was elected to the Texas state senate and is most well-known for her filibuster of a tough new abortion law introduced in the state last year.

The first abortion, says Wendy Davis in her memoir, was in 1994 for the ectopic pregnancy, which is considered medically dangerous. USA Today reports that the baby is not likely to survive and complications could lead to serious health risks for the mother. Despite this, the abortion is required to be reported, Davis says in her book.

Two years later, Wendy Davis had a second abortion in which the fetus was discovered to have a brain defect in which the right and left sides of the brain are separated. A baby born with this condition is likely to be in a permanent vegetative state. After consulting with several doctors, Davis says, she decided to abort.

“I could feel her little body tremble violently, as if someone were applying an electric shock to her, and I knew then what I needed to do.”

The candidate admits that the decisions were not easy, nor were they without repercussions for her personally. Yet, Wendy Davis writes, under Texas abortion laws, they were required to be reported and under new laws being proposed, they would be very difficult and possibly illegal.

Wendy Davis entered the limelight for the Democratic Party when she held a 15-hour marathon filibuster of the Texas Senate over a proposed anti-abortion law last year. Her current gubernatorial campaign focuses on a $10 minimum wage and against the Governor Rick Perry “Texas Anchor” plan, according to KXAN. Wendy Davis is the Democratic pick to go against Republican candidate Greg Abbott, currently Attorney General in Texas.

ABC News reports that a Texas Right To Life spokesperson says that their heart goes out to the candidate for having to make the decisions she did, but “still, the value of life is precious.” Planned Parenthood responded with a statement that “no woman should have to justify her decision.”

This breaking revelation from Wendy Davis has yet to impact the governor’s race in Texas.