Texas Gov. Rick Perry is not happy with State Sen. Wendy Davis (D), who filibustered an anti-abortion bill this week with a nearly 11-hour speech.
Thursday, his displeasure became personal, not just political.
“Even the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances,” Perry said in a speech to the National Right to Life Convention.
“She was the daughter of a single woman, she was a teenage mother herself. She managed to eventually graduate from Harvard Law School and serve in the Texas senate.”
“It is just unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters.”
Wendy Davis, 50, was raised by a single mother, and she became a single mother herself at 19. She did graduate from Harvard Law School.
Davis was first elected to the Texas state Senate in 2008.
She issued a response to Perry’s comments later in the day: “Rick Perry’s statement is without dignity and tarnishes the high office he holds,” she said.
“They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view. Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test.”
On Tuesday, Davis captured the attention of the world when she stood on her feet for 11 hours without a bathroom break and filibustered S.B. 5.
The Texas abortion bill would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, limit medications for it, and require that clinics be regulated as surgical centers.
Basically, opponents of the law argue that the bill, while not banning the practice, would close 37 out of the 42 abortion clinics in the state.
Republicans eventually shut down Davis’ filibuster about an hour and half before the midnight end to the legislature’s special session on Tuesday.
They alleged that she broke the rules by speaking off-topic, but Democrats were able to stall the vote by quabbling with Lieutenant Gov. David Dewhurst (R).
Also a crowd of protesters in the state capitol drowned out the final vote by shouting at the top of their lungs, and by the time it passed, it was after midnight.
The Senate session was over, so no vote could be recorded; Wendy Davis was lauded as a hero by Democrats and became a national Twitter star.
While abortion rights supporters managed to kill the bill, Perry has called for another special session July 1 that will force the legislature to reconsider it.
Perry slammed the protesters’ “mob tactics” in his speech on Thursday. “The louder they scream, the more we know we are getting something done,” he said.
Wonder if Wendy has a new pair of tennis shoes ready.