![\"Wendy](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/media.salon.com\/2013\/06\/wendy_davis-620x412.jpg\" "\\"Wendy")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Unless you\u2019ve been avoiding the news for the past twenty-four hours, you\u2019ve heard the name Wendy Davis<\/a> mentioned. On Tuesday, Davis stood up to the senate in an effort to filibuster a Texas bill on abortion that would provide even more limitations on a woman\u2019s right to control her own body.<\/p>\n The bill would add further restrictions on abortion clinics around the state, including banning any abortion after the twenty-week marker and require all but five abortion clinics in Texas to be closed. The women who so badly need access to abortion to clinics would no longer be able to get to them.<\/p>\n Ms. Davis was nineteen when she had her first child, but managed to get herself from a trailer park all the way through Harvard Law School and eventually to the Texas Senate. \u201cShe\u2019s carrying every woman in the state of Texas, if you will, on her shoulder,\u201d said Cecile Richards<\/a>, president of Planned Parenthood.<\/p>\n If Davis\u2019 filibuster successfully continued till midnight, the legislature would be unable to take a final vote and thus successfully block the bill.<\/p>\n The rules regarding filibusters in the state degree that Davis had to remain on topic the entire time, was unable to lean on any additional support (including a desk or a chair), and could not pause for a bathroom break, food or water. After three strikes the filibuster could be called off.<\/p>\n Davis\u2019 first strike came when she discussed Planned Parenthood\u2019s budget, which according to the legislature did not pertain to the bill being discussed. The second when after standing for almost seven hours, Davis had a colleague help her adjust a back brace. Davis received her final strike when she discussed the current laws requiring a woman to have a sonogram before a doctor will perform an abortion.<\/p>\n When the Senate called an end to the Davis\u2019 filibuster, state Senator Leticia Van De Putte<\/a> spoke up saying \u201cat what point must a female senator raise her hand or her voice to be recognized over her male colleagues?\u201d resulting in shouts of support throughout the chamber.<\/p>\n