Rolling Stone: Abortion Rights Under Fire: Why Wendy Davis' Filibuster Matters

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SB 5 is the latest in a series of extreme copy-cat anti-abortion measures sweeping states nationwide. Led by right-wing activists in places like North Dakota, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Ohio and Kansas, these bills represent the next front in the abortion wars. Inspired in part by conservative successes in public-union busting in states including Wisconsin and Michigan, national organizations like Americans United for Life and the Susan B. Anthony List have armed themselves with model legislation and launched a crusade to regulate abortion out of existence, while simultaneously teeing up a direct legal challenge to the 40-year precedent of Roe v. Wade. One way or another, their goal is to end access to safe and legal abortion nationwide, but do so in a way that looks "homegrown."

It's a crusade with consequences. As it stands, 31 percent of women in Texas are uninsured. In 2008, 87 percent of U.S. counties had no abortion provider, with one-third of American women living in these counties, and the numbers are even worse in Texas. Those fortunate enough to be able to access abortion care there must first go through state-directed counseling designed to discourage them from having the procedure. This includes a mandatory ultrasound where the provider must show and describe the fetal image to the woman. She must then wait at least 24 hours before she can have the abortion. This is the landscape of abortion rights before conservatives pushed SB5.

The right wing is targeting states like Texas for a reason. Thanks to the 2010 Tea Party election and the redistricting that followed, state politics are more partisan and entrenched than ever before, with conservatives holding a distinct legislative advantage in these areas. And conventional wisdom has held that even if a state like Texas has some pro-choice activists, it lacks the kind of progressive infrastructure needed to take down a bill once the conservatives established their super-majority.

Davis proved last night that the conventional wisdom couldn't be more wrong. Raised by a single mom, and a single mom herself at age 19, Davis worked two jobs in community college, became the first in her family to earn a bachelors degree and eventually graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. She was elected to the state Senate in 2008, defeating a long-time Republican incumbent and sending initial signals that the political landscape in Texas was changing. Conservatives took notice. Davis, who represents a heavily minority district, was one of the legislators targeted by Texas Republicans through redistricting in 2011. Notably, those efforts failed thanks to a legal challenge under Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act – the landmark civil rights law that the Supreme Court gutted just prior to the start of Davis' filibuster this week.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/abortion-rights-under-fire-why-wendy-davis-filibuster-matters-20130626#ixzz2XLfFF8E2