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"UPDATE: Wendy Davis and the Texas Democratic Party confirmed that Senate Bill 5 is dead.\n\n#SB5 failed to pass the Senate.\n\u2014 TX Democratic Party (@TXDemParty) June 26, 2013\n\nThis afternoon, as the viewers gradually trickled in to the Texas Tribune's YouTube livestream of State Senator Wendy Davis' attempt at a 13-hour-long filibuster, many people wondered why they'd seen so little news coverage of the event. Commenters noted they'd only heard of Davis's longshot gambit from Facebook and Tumblr, and not from their regular news sources.\nHours and hours later, \"all the major news networks [were] covering a broken cruise ship.\"\nBut on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, Wendy Davis was all anyone, anywhere, could talk about. More than 178,000 people, including the U.S. president, were glued to YouTube, and the serene blonde figure at the center of what could go down as one of the most dramatic public debates in U.S. political history.\n\nDavis' filibuster attempt was a herculean effort of standing completely upright and talking nonstop for 10 hours without eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, or leaning on anything for support. It was a final desperate attempt to prevent Texas bill SB5, which would effectively gut abortion services in the state, from passing. The Hail Mary came after days of protests and lobbying by women's rights activists to try and keep the bill from passing in the Senate. After SB5 failed to pass in May during the regular term of the legislative assembly, Texas Governor Rick Perry called a special 30-day session for the purpose of including a new debate on the bill. The stakes were high, and hundreds of pro-choice supporters flooded the Texas assembly to \"stand with Wendy\" as she attempted to pull off the filibuster.\nFrom the beginning, the Internet was hugely involved in Davis' effort, with thousands of testimonials pouring in through her website, many of which she read on the Senate floor.\nBut like something straight out of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, advocates for the bill attempted numerous times to end Davis' filibuster, raising numerous points of order throughout the day. One of the most hotly contested points of debate was the ruling that Davis had gone off-topic by discussing the budget for Planned Parenthood. It was the first of three \"strikes\" Davis could receive before she would be ordered off the floor, effectively ending the filibuster.\nThe longer Davis stood, the more word of mouth spread. Over 20,000 people were avidly watching the debate on YouTube around 6:30 CST, when a point of order was called against Davis for having another senator assist her with putting on a back brace. As the floor debated the point, the feed briefly cut out, leaving hundreds of anxious YouTubers refreshing their streams, and awaiting the verdict \u2014 which went against Davis, leaving her with only one strike remaining.\n\nWendy Davis. Respect. Why not let her read all books in GOT &amp; then carry her thru the streets of Austin, TX as the new Khaleesi?\n\u2014 Tim Mackay (@timqfadvice) June 26, 2013\n\nAs the night wore on, the Internet took on a dizzying role in the drama, as senators live-tweeted the filibuster from the floor:\n\nDuncan overrules the order not recognizing Sen. Estes' motion to table the appeal of Dewhurst's ruling to stop the filibuster. #txlege\n\u2014 Statesmanmike (@mikestatesman) June 26, 2013\n\nOn Twitter, #StandWithWendy trended worldwide for hours. President Barack Obama's Twitter account tweeted a link to the livestream.\nBut perhaps most incredibly, Twitter users got their hands on the parliamentary laws under debate, and contacted the democrats on the house floor directly.\n\n.@KirkPWatson - please check out this part of the rule book 4 the appeal - you need 3 warnings on germaneness: http://t.co/82DO6TqLUc #SB5\n\u2014 Heather Parker (@heatherr_parker) June 26, 2013\n\n\nW00t! Just got in touch with @KirkPWatson's office - they're going to pass along the info abt germaneness. ::fingerscrossed:: #SB5\n\u2014 Heather Parker (@heatherr_parker) June 26, 2013\n\nBy the time the third and final attempt at point of order was debated and sustained around 10 p.m. CST, with just two hours to go, the number of viewers had jumped to nearly 57,000. During the ensuing half hour, social networks exploded as viewers awaited the ruling.\nWithout putting the issue to a vote, Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst ruled that an attempt by Davis to talk about a previous sonogram bill in the context of SB5 was not \"germane\" to the SB5 bill.\nSenator Judith Zaffirini brought up the rule that the topic of \"germaneness\" must be brought up three times or more before a strike could be issued; however, at that point, the acting chair, Senator Robert Watson, dismissed her point of order as having come after the ruling on Davis' topic was made.\n\"At what point,\" Senator Leticia Van de Putte asked in the wake of the overridden objections, \"must a female senator raise her voice or hand to be recognized over male colleague?\"\nThroughout the night the public in attendance frequently disrupted the proceedings with chants of \"Let Her Speak,\" making it so hard to hear on the Senate floor that they had to be ordered out of the courtroom at one point.\nPeaceful protesters were arrested:\n\nBut at the last minute, the crowd noise proved to be the real deciding vote. Tensions were visibly high, and as the final vote to dismiss the filibuster and pass the bill began, at just ten minutes until midnight, the noise of the crowd rose to a fever pitch, in one last desperate attempt to disrupt the assembly and forestall the debate.\nOn the floor was utter chaos.\n\nDuncan suspends Senate business. Senators angrily confronting each other. Campbell asks for galleries cleared. \"We're losing time.\" #txlege\n\u2014 Statesmanmike (@mikestatesman) June 26, 2013\n\nSenator Kirk Watson called it \"the worst night since I've been in the Senate, and maybe in my political life.\"\n\nWinning tonight: parliamentary procedure nerds. Losing tonight: everyone.\n\u2014 Sara Lang (@SaraLang) June 26, 2013\n\nThrough it all, Twitter chronicled the debate in dramatic images, humor and emotion:\n\nPretty Vine of the rotunda: https://t.co/WngzproZBW #SB5 #standwithwendy (via @GarrettMize, @AntDeRosa)\n\u2014 Melissa Gira Grant (@melissagira) June 26, 2013\n\n\nI can't stop laughing this Wendy Davis Wikipedia page edit #standwithwendy pic.twitter.com/nIDsFTT5AB\n\u2014 EireannMichaelDolan (@EireannDolan) June 26, 2013\n\n\nEvery floor of rotunda packed. People have crowded the first floor. #txlege #SB5 pic.twitter.com/xJlqI2a3pV\n\u2014 Shefali Luthra (@shefalil) June 26, 2013\n\n\nThis is outside the Texas senate right now #standwithwendy pic.twitter.com/xULpofHfwo\n\u2014 Commie-Chan (@CommieChan) June 26, 2013\n\n\nwow RT @Brian_Sweany: Yes, through all this, @WendyDavisTexas is still standing. pic.twitter.com/oxqhaI3GHM\n\u2014 susannah george (@sgeorgenpr) June 26, 2013\n\nAt one minute past midnight, the Senate attempted to complete the vote, as the crowd chanted \"Shame!\" while being forced out of fhe courtroom.\n\nAnd when the walls fall, scream until the very earth quakes under their feet. Make noise. Raise your voice and don't stop. Never stop.\n\u2014 Amadi (@amaditalks) June 26, 2013\n\nAnd then the vote passed.\n\nWhat?! RT @AP: BREAKING: Republicans pass new restrictions expected to close almost every abortion clinic in Texas.\n\u2014 hypervocal (@hypervocal) June 26, 2013\n\nBut not without a challenge.\n\nWest: The vote on SB5 is void. The constitutionality will be challenged. We weren't in session. #txlege\n\u2014 Statesmanmike (@mikestatesman) June 26, 2013\n\nSpeculation that Gov. Perry will simply call another special session to push the bill through again is running rampant.\nNow that the whole world \u2014 or at least the Internet \u2014 is watching Texas, the next fight may not come down to one woman facing off against history.\n\nAnd when the walls fall, scream until the very earth quakes under their feet. Make noise. Raise your voice and don't stop. Never stop.\n\u2014 Amadi (@amaditalks) June 26, 2013\n\n\nWin lose or draw, what Wendy Davis did matters, focusing a huge number of people on the threats to women's health and rights across America.\n\u2014 Jon Lovett (@jonlovett) June 26, 2013\n\n\nWhitmire says Senate timestamp shows #SB5 vote began at 12:02, that legal? \"No it's not\" #txlege\n\u2014 Becca Aaronson (@becca_aa) June 26, 2013\n\n\nHere's the changes made to the Texas State Senate website (corrects time stamp) - pic.twitter.com/zutCgIJknH\n\u2014 Matthew Keys (@MatthewKeysLive) June 26, 2013\n\nAs it turns out, the official vote was recorded at 12:03 a.m. CST.\n\nRT @CecileRichards: BREAKING: Lt. Gov. Dewhurst has agreed that #SB5 is dead.\n\u2014 BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) June 26, 2013\n\n\nI know Planned Parenthood telling crowd is dead, that may be. Senators in meeting, I have to wait for them to tell me for sure #txlege #sb5\n\u2014 ChrisTomlinson (@cltomlinson) June 26, 2013\n\n\nReports from outside Senate say #SB5 did not pass. Awaiting official word.\n\u2014 FOX 4 NEWS (@FOX4) June 26, 2013\n\n\nBREAKING: Texas lt. gov. reverses himself, declares vote on tough abortion bill came too late to pass.\n\u2014 The Associated Press (@AP) June 26, 2013\n\nHomepage image courtesy of Flickr, pncsmith; top image courtesy of thegrlwiththephoenixtattoo/Tumblr\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/06/26/standwithwendy-texas-abortion-filibuster-wendy-davis/>