A year after the filibuster, pro-choice Texans are still resisting

Via Wendy Davis

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of Wendy Davis’ filibuster and the incredible outpouring of support it drew from Texans from all over the state, making it possible in the first place. And though the news from Texas has been a lot of doom-and-gloom about clinic closures and their effects on Texas women, it’s important to point out that Texans are still standing strong for reproductive justice and fighting back. Andrea Grimes writes:

Since that day, I have seen nothing that looks like a loss of passion or a surrender to the inevitable, though GOP pundits and mainstream Texas newspapers seem to love the narrative that progressive, liberal and moderate Texans forgot everything they learned last summer as soon as they were home safe, tucked in their beds.

What I have seen is an incredible outpouring of time, of money, of soul. Because the knowledge that Texans gained last summer—how to testify in front of a committee hearing, how to contact their legislators, hell, how to just know the names of their representatives—can’t be taken away from them. They now see how the system works, and how the system has been manipulated by right-wing lawmakers who have grown lazy and self-satisfied, comfortable with their bully pulpit.

Texans have not forgotten the power that became so clearly visible in the capitol that summer, and are resisting a ridiculous set of abortion restrictions in their state with their activism every single day. I, of course, have no trouble believing this – some of my dearest friends and fiercest activists I’ve had the pleasure to work and organize with are in Texas, and they don’t let me forget for one second that resistance is alive and well there. Go read all of Andrea’s wonderful piece, and make sure you don’t forget either.

Verónica has mad love for Texas.