Flashback: Wendy Davis’ famed Texas Senate filibuster to stop anti-abortion bill

Eight years ago in the summer of 2013, former state Sen. Wendy Davis spent 12 hours on her feet trying to block the Texas Senate from passing a restrictive abortion bill.

On Wednesday, state Sen. Carol Alvarado began a filibuster to try to thwart an elections overhaul bill, the latest of more than 100 filibusters over the past 72 years, according to the Texas Legislative Reference Library.

The results of the Houston Democrat Alvarado’s effort remain to be seen, but in 2013, Davis’ filibuster succeeded in killing the anti-abortion bill as time expired on a special session. The effort attracted a crowd of thousands and national attention, and the shoe brand Mizuno even got a bounce from the pink sneakers she wore to stay comfortable.

“Tonight, people who have been in this Capitol for far longer than I have said they’ve never experienced anything like what we saw at the Capitol today and this evening,” Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat, said then. “There were thousands of people here throughout the day, and what they were asking that their voices would be heard.

“We did our best as a Democratic caucus to make sure that happened, and I think the results speak for themselves.”

The effort was short-lived, however.

“It’s been fun, but, uh, see you soon,” then-Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, the Senate president, said that night, foretelling what would occur the following day: Gov. Rick Perry called a second special session to get the bill passed.

1/5State Sen. Wendy Davis wore comfortable shoes as she filibustered during the final day of the legislative special session June 25, 2013. (2013 File Photo / Louis DeLuca)

2/5Davis reacted after a third point of order halted her filibuster.(2013 File Photo / Louis DeLuca)

3/5Davis’ filibuster succeeded in killing a restrictive abortion bill as time expired on a special session in 2013. However, the Texas Senate passed the legislation and sent it to Gov. Rick Perry’s desk about two weeks later.(2013 File Photo / Louis DeLuca)

4/5The gallery listened as Wendy Davis filibustered.(2013 File Photo / Louis DeLuca)

5/5Spectators lined up to get in the gallery in the Capitol rotunda during the final day of the legislative special session June 25, 2013. Wendy Davis’ filibuster to kill a restrictive abortion bill attracted a crowd of thousands and national attention.(2013 File Photo / Louis DeLuca)

The Senate passed the legislation and sent it to Perry’s desk about two weeks later, giving Texas one of the most stringent abortion laws in the country. Abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy were banned. All clinics were required to be upgraded to high-standard surgical centers, prompting many to close, and doctors were required to have admitting privileges at hospitals.

Senators at the time predicted the courts would have the final word.

“There will be a lawsuit. You can rest assured,” said Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas.

And in 2016, the Supreme Court struck down the requirements for doctors and clinics, declaring that they posed an unconstitutional burden on women seeking to end their pregnancies. Still, more than half of the state’s abortion clinics closed and have not reopened.

As for Davis, her filibuster propelled her to political stardom and into the governor’s race in 2014. Beloved by the left and vilified by the right as “Abortion Barbie,” she couldn’t overcome a well-funded opponent in Gov. Greg Abbott, the attorney general at the time who trounced her by 20 percentage points.

Davis also ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2020, losing to Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin.

It was reported in 2017 that Sandra Bullock was set to play Davis in Let Her Speak, a movie about her life and the night of the filibuster, but the film has not yet been developed.