Moments ago, a riot and a revolution almost happened in Texas over women’s reproduction rights. According to TV news, there was nothing worth reporting. Thousands of people viewing the live feed of the proceedings, the people reporting on social media like Twitter and Facebook, and throngs of people numbering in the high hundreds to lower thousands outside of the state capitol building would disagree.
Senator Wendy Davis (D) of Fort Worth began a filibuster at 11:18 AM CDT and continued this until midnight to stall the vote of Senate Bill 5. Opposition to the wide-reaching bill comes from it banning abortion of any kind after 20 weeks and causing the majority of clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities to be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. In addition, doctors at these clinics would also need to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles. While these last few requirements may sound reasonable, this becomes more difficult in many rural and urban communities due to costs and legitimate space restrictions. Yet this bill had no wording in it for funding of such endeavors. Because of that lack of funding, SB5 would result in almost every abortion clinic in Texas to close, bringing the total number from 47 to 5. To drive the extremity of that decision home, Texas is 773 miles wide and 790 miles long with 26 million people within it.
Immediately upon Senator Davis beginning her filibuster, people started to show their support for her in person and online. At the state capitol, the color of choice was burnt orange, which is also the school colors of the University of Texas that resides in Austin, to show allegiance to Davis’s cause.
A sea of supporting orange with Kaci Beeler‘s face front and center. Photo courtesy of Roy Janik.
The crowds wait outside for a decision on SB5. Photo courtesy of Erica Lies.
Online, the hashtags #SB5 and #StandWithWendy made their way across Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, and Vine to display to those who couldn’t make it out what was transpiring on the Texas Senate floor.
The leadership may not want to listen to TX women, but they will have to listen to me. I intend to filibuster this bill. #SB5 #txlege
— Wendy Davis (@WendyDavisTexas) June 25, 2013
At one point, almost 200,000 people were watching the live YouTube feed of the Texas Senate proceedings. As Sen. Robert Duncan (R) tried to call the Senate to order for a vote to end the filibuster and vote on the bill at 11:45 PM, the crowd of Davis supporters began to scream. And scream. And scream.
[Video courtesy of Jessica Arjet]
These adamant supporters, both men and women, were prepared to go hoarse screaming for the next 15 minutes if it meant stopping the filibuster from going through. That’s exactly what they did as the clocks ticked over to midnight. That’s also when things became extremely confusing.
Apparently, the midnight mark came and went, but the Republicans on the Texas Senate floor tried to hold a vote anyway. Sen. Bob Deuell (R), who created the requirement that all abortions take place in surgical centers, and other Republicans, including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, claimed that the vote passed 17 to 12 and did so before midnight. Unfortunately for them, thousands upon thousands of people saw otherwise. More than that though, Twitter had proof as witnessed on the feed of Becca Aaronson, health care and data reporter for the Texas Tribune, who tweeted a picture of Senator Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa (D) holding up documents that showed the original timestamp of the vote and an altered timestamp.
Hinojosa holding up docs showing #txlege changed time stamp on #SB5 vote pic.twitter.com/r7mdQXSu3J — Becca Aaronson (@becca_aa) June 26, 2013
During all of this, how did the national news stations report on what had become a landmark political event? It turns out that they didn’t. At just past midnight, a quick perusal on TV of the most prevalent 24-hour news networks—CNN, MSNBC, Headline News, and FOX News—saw that not one of them reported on this. Instead, they all replayed shows they had run earlier in the day. Anderson Cooper, Nancy Grace, and more reappeared in rebroadcasts of that day’s previously-recorded shows while actual news went on without them. Maybe those news stations don’t know the definition of the words “24 hours.”
Senator Davis supporters check for updates on their smartphones and tablets in the capitol building’s rotunda. Photo courtesy of Jessica Arjet.
Many times over, FOX News has been accused of doing little more than reciting right-wing talking points. CNN and MSNBC both have had accusations thrown at them for acting as an echo chamber for the Obama administration. Claims of unbiased journalism shouldn’t go without some sort of further investigation. However, last night, those news stations found themselves the target of a more devastating charge. Far beyond the crime of partisan reporting is the offense caused by negligence of reporting.
Heh I think we just witnessed the turning point where Texas will resume being a blue state, as it used to be.
I think the *people* in Texas are fed up and ready to turn it Blue; HOWEVER, there’s that snag of them instituting that unconstitutional re-districting system for voting that they enacted immediately upon SCOTUS’s ruling yesterday, in the Shelby Co. AL case. My fear is that the *people* will want it to go Blue, but the ones in charge will stack the deck to keep it Red.
“and other republicans, including Lt.”
the ‘r’ should be capitalized there
Yah mean like “Re-poop-agains”?
Heap all shame on these supposed 24 hour networks—but also remember to *thank* the internet news sources and whoever ran the Youtube channel, for helping us see this as it happened, and helping to prevent outright FRAUD in the attempt to change the time/date stamp on that vote. As well, thanks to Ms. Davis and to the people who tweeted her their stories, giving her more material to use in the filibuster when she needed it. And Bless all those people who were there shouting and protesting: not just those last night, but also those the other day who pushed the House part of the special session so far on time that Ms. Davis *could* filibuster this!
24 Hour news is a myth in the first place as all three of the full time news networks are far more interested in pushing their various political narratives instead of covering what is actually happeinging in the world.