AP: Texas Lieutenant Governor Reverses Himself, Declares SB5 Was Passed Too Late!
UPDATE via the AP Twitter feed:
Texas lt. gov. reverses himself, declares vote on tough abortion bill came too late to pass.
Following a nearly 13-hour filibuster by Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Forth Worth), Republicans held a vote on a sweeping anti-abortion bill after the midnight deadline, and to the jeers of the gallery. From Yahoo News:.
Texas' lieutenant governor late Tuesday suspended a senator's filibuster against wide-ranging abortion restrictions, but Democrats moved quickly to appeal the decision and set off a parliamentary fight over the rules.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst halted the filibuster after determining Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis had strayed off the topic when she talked about a sonogram bill passed in 2011 and how the new abortion restrictions only compounded the anti-abortion laws in Texas.
Democrats immediately appealed the decision and set off a heated debate over rules. Austin Democratic Sen. Kirk Watson appeared to be positioning himself to launch a new filibuster on Dewhurst's decision.
Wearing pink tennis shoes to prepare for nearly 13 consecutive hours of standing, Davis began the day with a one-woman filibuster to block a GOP-led effort to impose stringent new abortion restrictions across the nation's second-most populous state.
