Today on the Net: an American senator blocks voting on an anti-abortion bill in Texas; Bosnians protest against a legal void regarding personal identification numbers; and intrigue after an ancient Egyptian statue starts spinning on its own.
Senator Wendy Davis' filibuster kills Texas abortion bill
She was not allowed to take a break, or even sit down; Democrat senator Wendy Davis delivered an 11-hour filibuster speech on Tuesday, in a bid to block a bill that would have severely restricted abortion in the state of Texas. During her marathon speech she read accounts from women and doctors she had collected on her website.
And a number of political figures, including Barack Obama, have taken to social networks to post under the hashtag #StandWithWendy, as have thousands of web users across the US, all voicing their support and hailing the senator’s strength and determination.
Support was also shown from within the senate of Texas itself. As this amateur video footage illustrates, the public galleries were full of opponents of this bill which proposes to ban abortion in Texas after twenty weeks of pregnancy.
Wendy Davis was planning to talk for thirteen hours nonstop to block the vote by delaying voting until beyond midnight, and with it the 30-day special session deadline, but she was forced to abandon her speech after receiving a third warning for deviating from the subject. As she stood down, amid shouts and protests from members of the public in the chamber, her fellow Democrats took up the baton, trying to stall the vote.
So a vote was eventually taken, but amid great commotion... Go on reading on our web site.
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