AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Wendy Davis says she burst into tears after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of the Texas abortion law that the former Democratic state senator once temporarily blocked with an 11-hour filibuster in 2013.
Davis said Monday she viewed the 5-3 decision as the justices shutting down future efforts by Republican-controlled states to impose what she called “sham laws” on abortion providers. She also says that abortion services in some underserved Texas areas could return over the next six months.
Davis became a national political star after her filibuster on floor of Texas Senate in running shoes temporarily derailed the law. She was cheered on by thousands of abortion-rights supporters and unsuccessfully ran for governor a year later.
The ruling amounted to the Supreme Court’s strongest defense of abortion rights in a quarter-century.
