AUSTIN, Texas - The Republican-dominated Texas Legislature pushed Monday to enact wide-ranging restrictions that would effectively shut down all abortion clinics in the nation’s second most-populous state, and Democrats planned an old-fashioned marathon filibuster to stop the final vote.
After the House easily approved the package of anti-abortion measures Monday morning, it headed to the Senate. But with the special session scheduled to end at 11:59 p.m. today, the clock presented a far bigger obstacle than the votes to win approval there.
Although Texas is just the latest of several conservative states - including Arkansas - to try to toughen limits on abortions, the scope of its effort is notable both because of the combination of bills being considered and the size of the state. The proposal would ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, limit abortions to surgical centers and require doctors to monitor even nonsurgical abortions.
When combined in a state that is 773 miles wide and 790 miles long and has a population of 26 million, the measures become the most stringent set of laws to affect the largest number of people in the nation.
“If this passes, abortion would be virtually banned in the state of Texas, and many women could be forced to resort to dangerous and unsafe measures,” said Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund and the daughter of the late former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.
Supporters, though, insist it will only raise the standard of health care for women who seek an abortion. Gov. Rick Perry added abortion to the special session’s agenda and has promised to sign the bill if it reaches his desk.
The only way Democrats could block a vote when it goes to the Senate is if one senator filibusters it by running out the clock on the special session. Under the rules, the senator would have to speak nonstop and remain standing, without a bathroom break or leaning on anything.
Normally, the Senate doesn’t get a bill until 24 hours after House passage, which would set the Senate debate for this morning, effectively requiring a 13 ½-hour filibuster.
Republicans tried but failed to force an earlier vote and a longer filibuster. Despite missing Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who was in San Antonio attending funeral services for her deceased father, Democrats dug in and held on to one-vote margin they needed to block the attempt.
The first requirement of the bill is that all abortions take place in a surgical center, a facility that is designed to cope with major surgeries that could lead to life-threatening complications. The greater number of abortions are not surgical procedures, and only five of the state’s 42 abortion clinics meet that new standard. Many would need to relocate and spend millions of dollars to reach that standard.
Those five remaining clinics are in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and two in Houston. A woman living along the Mexico border or in West Texas would have to drive hundreds of miles to obtain an abortion if the law passes.
The bill also requires women to take abortion-inducing pills, which now may be taken at home, in the presence of a doctor at a surgical center.
Under the measure, abortion doctors would have to obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic. The lone remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi is suing to block a similar law because all hospitals in the state, based on religious reasons or to avoid political repercussions, have refused to grant privileges to an abortion doctor.
Texas state Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, insists the measures are intended to protect women’s health by guaranteeing the best possible treatment and forcing abortion clinics to improve their facilities. But after the bill passed the Senate the first time, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst wrote on Twitter about how the bill would shut down clinics.
Rep. Jody Laubenberg, R-Parker, led the effort in the House to add a measure banning abortions after 20 weeks, shaving four weeks off the current cutoff.
“At five months, we are talking about a human being unless you think it’s still a clump of mass,” she said during the floor debate.
Texas House Democrats managed to delay a vote on the bill for 15 hours Sunday night into early Monday morning, but the Republican majority voted to suspend debate, stop pending amendments and force a vote at 3:30 a.m. House Speaker Joe Straus then adjourned and called lawmakers back for the final House vote at 6:46 a.m.
Democrats, though, stayed away until 9 a.m. denying Republicans a quorum. Four Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the bill, and a single Republican from Houston opposed it.
Front Section, Pages 3 on 06/25/2013