Wendy Davis has become the new poster child for women’s reproductive rights.

I trust the Fort Worth Democratic state senator will wear the label proudly – as she should.

Davis talked a punitive abortion bill to death overnight, filibustering Texas Senate Bill 5 past the time it could become law.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/06/26/led-davis-democrats-defeat-abortion-legislation/

The special session of the Texas Legislature had been called to repair the state’s congressional and redistricting issue, but was expanded to include abortion restrictions when Gov. Rick Perry added that poison pill to the session’s call.

SB 5 would have made any abortion past the 20th week of pregnancy illegal. Many observers have labeled the bill the toughest in the nation. It would have required doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of an abortion clinic and would have required doctors to administer abortion-inducing drugs.

What makes Davis’s victory so interesting is that she filibustered the bill the old-fashioned way. She stood on the Senate floor and talked for 13 hours. Some Senate Republicans tried to rule her out of order because – and this is rich – she was reading a prepared document instead of speaking extemporaneously. This was no procedural filibuster. Davis talked and talked and talked.

The filibuster drew national attention, with the proceedings being broadcast live into homes all across the land.

My applause at the end – for now – of Senate Bill 5 is not an endorsement of abortion. It is an endorsement instead of preserving a woman’s right to make this difficult decision rather than criminalizing it.

Sen. Davis and her Texas Democratic colleagues have performed a valuable public service.

And if you thought the session in the Texas Senate chamber was raucous, just wait to see what happens if Rick Perry calls yet another special session to try to ram this legislation into law.