Whether you support abortion or not, when you think of Wendy Davis, it’s likely for one thing: her extensive filibuster of a bill in Texas that would outlaw abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Davis argued against the bill for over ten hours in pink sneakers, and instantly became the darling of the pro-abortion movement. But now, suddenly, we’re being told to believe that Wendy Davis opposes late-term abortion?
No, really. That’s straight from campaign spokesman Bo Delp, in a statement to Politifact that could be called laughable at best.
Campaign spokesman Bo Delp told us by email it’s incorrect to say Davis opposes any limits. “Like most Texans, Sen. Davis opposes late-term abortions except when the life or health of the mother is endangered, in cases of rape or incest or in the case of severe and irreversible fetal abnormalities,” Delp said.
Delp’s response fits with an Oct. 5, 2013, news story in the Austin American-Statesman saying that Davis, while addressing the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2013, was asked, “Could you discuss what legal limits on abortion you do support?”
She replied, “You know, the Supreme Court has made that decision. And it’s one of the protected liberties under our Constitution. And I respect the constitutional protections that are in place today.”
So Delp claims that Davis opposes late-term abortion, because he says she does, and as proof, Politifact directs readers to a response from Davis that actually evades the question at hand: what legal limits on abortion do you support? (Notice that Davis didn’t give an answer to that question.) Saying she supports the laws in place today tells us absolutely nothing about what limits she supports herself.
Meanwhile, Davis’ new position is that she only supports late-term abortion in cases to protect the life of the mother, of rape or incest, and fetal abnormalities. The only problem with that statement is that Texas Senate Bill 5, which Davis filibustered for over ten hours in an attempt to defeat, and voted against, did have an exception in it if the life of the mother was at risk. It’s highly unlikely that she would have accepted the ban on late-term abortions had they only included language allowing women to abort their late-term babies because they have a fetal abnormality, or because they were raped. And it isn’t as if she hasn’t ever spoken about the issue before. When asked why more women don’t support late-term abortions, she blithely replied it was because they didn’t understand it. She didn’t say that she didn’t support late-term abortion, either.
Wendy Davis built her entire political career, and potentially her political future, on supporting late-term abortion. But as pro-lifers have noted since she first appeared on the national stage, most Texans don’t agree with her views. They don’t support late-term abortion. Wendy Davis very notoriously does, and it was that support that garnered her national support from the abortion lobby. But now that it might end up sinking her gubernatorial campaign, she’s trying to change her tune? Good luck with that, Wendy. The facts won’t go away just because they’ve suddenly become inconvenient.
