Tonight, the Texas Senate passed a series of restrictions on abortion , despite heavily attended protests and strong outcry from women in the state affected by the sweeping laws.
The Texas Senate’s decision has been a hot button debate on Twitter. Senator Wendy Davis, who spearheaded a filibuster and aborted initial vote, tweeted late tonight:
Shamefully, the Texas Senate just voted to pass a law leaving tens of thousands of Texans without access to life-saving care.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who accused an “unruly mob” of disrupting the last vote (which was proven to have missed the deadline despite initial claims that restrictions on the time of vote were met), decried “occupy” style tactics following Davis’ high-profile filibuster last month.
Now that the Texas abortion bill has passed, all but five abortion clinics in the huge state of Texas are likely to close, due to restrictions demanding all clinic meet surgical center standards and that all abortion providers possess admitting privileges at a local hospital. Further, all clinics will be forced, under the new law, to be within a short distance of a hospital — a difficult condition to meet in such a large state.
Earlier Friday, Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, said of the Texas abortion bill’s passage:
“In the long run, all they have done is built a committed group of people across this state who are outraged about the treatment of women and the lengths to which this Legislature will go to take women’s health care away.”
Earlier today, several on the ground in Texas reported that Texan women attending the special session were stripped of their tampons and sanitary napkins before entering, on fears the items would be used as projectiles.
Twitter is overrun with tweets from protesters on the ground reporting from the capitol, and many others retweeting the proceedings:
Demonstrators are blocking the Texas Senate doors. Police oppose them: pic.twitter.com/n736MFpbsP via @KitOConnell
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 13, 2013
BREAKING: Anti-Choice bill #HB2 has just passed in Texas. In other news, there are 13k children awaiting adoption in that state. #TXlege
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) July 13, 2013
Right now in front of Senate doors. #yal #um #hb2 #TXlege pic.twitter.com/whF7B08K8p
— YourAnonLive (@YourAnonLive) July 13, 2013
Some protesters report violent treatment, including tasers:
Reports of 1 arrestee being tazed, hands of cuffed arrestee turning blue. #HB2 #TXlege ( @kitoconnell live at http://t.co/stBNIiCALL )
— Anonymous Queer (@brazenqueer) July 13, 2013
PHOTO: Bloodied protester after #HB2 passage pic.twitter.com/1W1xhi68qZ #TXLege ( @OmarVillafranca , via @BuzzFeedAndrew )
— Magdiel Castro, Jr. (@magdiel_castro) July 13, 2013
Hearing that @scATX and @KitOConnell were arrested. Some of the main activists tweeting about this travesty #HB2 #txlege
— LaPajamas (@LaPajamas) July 13, 2013
Reports from the capitol after the Texas Senate’s abortion bill vote continue to filter in on Twitter, but a live feed from the ground has abruptly ended.
