UPDATE: 1.03 a.m. EDT/12:03 a.m. CDT
AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Senate passed sweeping new abortion restrictions late Friday, sending them to Republican Gov. Rick Perry to sign into law after weeks of protests and rallies that drew thousands of people to the Capitol and made the state the focus of the national abortion debate.
Republicans used their large majority in the Texas Legislature to pass the bill nearly three weeks after a filibuster by Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis and an outburst by abortion-rights activists in the Senate gallery disrupted a deadline vote June 25.
Called back for a new special session by Perry, lawmakers took up the bill again as thousands of supporters and opponents held rallies and jammed the Capitol to testify at public hearings.
The bill requires doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, allows abortions only in surgical centers and bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion-rights supporters say the bill will close all but five abortion clinics in Texas, leaving large areas of vast state without abortion services.
Anti-abortion groups insisted their primary goal was to protect women’s health while reducing the number of abortions in Texas. According to state figures, about 72,000 abortions were performed in Texas in 2011, less than 400 after the 20th week of pregnancy.
Perry, a Republican who said last week he won’t seek a fourth full term in office in 2014, has said he will sign the bill.
The restrictions are a top priority for the Christian conservative voters who make up a majority of Texas Republican voters and want abortions banned. Although the Texas bill mirrors measures passed in Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kansas, Wisconsin and Arizona, but passing them in the nation’s second-most populous state is a major victory for the anti-abortion movement.
Democrats, however, see an opportunity that could help them break a 20-year statewide losing streak. They believe Republicans have overreached in trying to appease their base and alienated suburban women, a constituency that helped President Barack Obama win re-election. Democrats have helped organize the recent protests — more than 5,000 people swarmed the Capitol last week — and top lawmakers have toured the state as part of Planned Parenthood’s “Stand With Texas Women” campaign.
Opponents contend the restrictions violate the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortions, and it’s unclear if they’ll survive legal challenges. Courts have suspended some similar provisions in other states.
The issue had been simmering for months in Texas but didn’t get a vote in the regular session. It didn’t explode nationally until Perry put the restrictions on the agenda halfway through the first special session and Davis’ filibuster and the Senate outburst stopped the bill.
This Senate vote came with about three weeks left in the session, making another filibuster impossible and leaving Democrats with almost no chance of stopping the bill. After the June 25 outburst by abortion-rights activists, the Senate’s leader, Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, vowed to strictly enforce the chamber’s rules of decorum. The Texas Constitution gives Dewhurst the ability to have violators jailed for up to 48 hours. Dozens of state troopers guarded the gallery and patrolled the hallways Friday.
-12:59 a.m. EDT/11:59 p.m. CDT
Texas Senate Gives Initial OK to Abortion Proposal
AUSTIN, Texas—The Texas Senate late Friday gave initial approval to sweeping abortion restrictions and was poised to take a final vote and send the proposal to the governor.
The votes followed an hourslong debate and weeks of protests that drew thousands to the Capitol and made Texas the focus of the national abortion debate.
-12:44 a.m. EDT/11:44 p.m. CDT
Texas Senate Poised to Vote on Abortion Measure
AUSTIN, Texas—Texas senators were wrapping up debate on sweeping abortion restrictions Friday night and were poised to vote on a measure after weeks of protests.
Republicans were expected to pass the bill. But Democrats had sought to soften it and enter into the legislative record material that could help in a court battle.
Democrats have called the sweeping GOP proposal unnecessary and unconstitutional.
The Senate’s debate took place between a packed gallery of demonstrators, with anti-abortion activists wearing blue and abortion-rights supporters wearing orange. Security was tight, and state troopers reported confiscating bottles of urine and feces as they worked to prevent another attempt to stop the Republican majority from passing a proposal that has put Texas at the center of the nation’s abortion debate.
Four women who tried to chain themselves to a railing in the gallery were arrested. One woman was successful in chaining herself, prompting a 10-minute recess.
When debate resumed, protesters began loudly singing, “Give choice a chance.” The Senate’s leader, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, told officers to remove them.
Outside the chamber, the crowd grew so loud that troopers were being issued orange earplugs. Protesters were shouting, “Shame! Shame! Shame!” as senators gave their closing statements.
The Senate’s approval would send the bill to Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who has said he will sign it.
-10:30 p.m. EDT/9:30 p.m. CDT
Republicans Decline to Change Abortion Proposal
AUSTIN, Texas—Texas Republicans turned back amendment after amendment that Democrats offered Friday to try to change proposed new abortion restrictions, refusing to allow exceptions for cases of rape and incest or expanding exceptions for the health of the mother.
Democrats have called the sweeping GOP proposal unnecessary and unconstitutional, but pressed for minor changes to soften the impact of the bill.
The Senate’s debate took place between a packed gallery of demonstrators, with anti-abortion activists wearing blue and abortion-rights supporters wearing orange. Security was tight, and state troopers reported confiscating bottles of urine and feces as they worked to prevent another attempt to stop the Republican majority from passing a proposal that has put Texas at the center of the nation’s abortion debate.
Senators could hear hundreds of protesters outside of the chamber in the Capitol rotunda cheering, chanting and singing, “We’re not going to take it anymore.” Some wore gynecological devices around their necks. Supporters of the restrictions carried photos of fetuses and Bible verses, praying in the hallway for the bill to pass.
The Senate could vote on the abortion restrictions later Friday or early Saturday, sending the bill to Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who has said he will sign it. The Republican majority is expected to pass the bill, with Democrats left to do little more than enter into the legislative record material that could help defeat it in federal court.
The circus-like atmosphere in the Texas Capitol marked the culmination of weeks of protests, the most dramatic of which came June 25 in the final minutes of the last special legislative session, when a Democratic filibuster and subsequent protest prevented the bill from becoming law.
House Bill 2 would require doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, allow abortions only in surgical centers, limit where and when women may take abortion-inducing pills and ban abortions after 20 weeks. Only five out of 42 existing abortion clinics meet the requirements to be a surgical center, and clinic owners say they can’t afford to upgrade or relocate.
Sen. Glen Hegar of Katy, the bill’s Republican author, argued that all abortions, including those induced with medications, should take place in an ambulatory surgical center in case of complications.
Democrats pointed out that childbirth is more dangerous than an abortion and there have been no serious problems with women taking abortion drugs at home. They introduced amendments to add exceptions for cases of rape and incest and to remove some of the more restrictive clauses.
Sen. Carlos Uresti, a San Antonio Democrat, proposed an exception to the 20-week ban for child victims of rape or incest.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to give these victims an additional month to make up their minds,” Uresti said.
But Hegar responded that if an abortion were necessary to protect a child from imminent harm or death, an abortion after 20 weeks would be allowed.
Hegar also rejected an amendment to expand that exception to make it for the mother’s health and not limit it to imminent harm.
[liveblog]
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
