Less than a week after state. Sen. Wendy Davis' 11-hour filibuster defeated Texas' highly restrictive abortion ban, the Legislature is reconvening to vote on the Republican-backed measure, which is strongly opposed by Democrats, reproductive rights groups, the Texas Medical Association, the Texas Hospital Association and the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The second special session, called for by Gov. Rick Perry after the measure failed to pass in the previous session, will begin Monday at 2 p.m. (3 p.m. ET) and could last up to 30 days.
The bill is expected to pass in the Republican-controlled Legislature, and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who supports the measure, told the Dallas Morning News on Saturday that the second session leaves little hope for a successful filibuster: “We’re not going to get it back from the House within filibuster range,” Dewhurst said. “We’re going to make sure that we’ve got plenty of time, and no human being can talk for two weeks.”
Davis, however, has said that passing the measure isn't a given, and that the national visibility generated by the filibuster and resulting public outcry may give some Republicans pause when voting for such a restrictive bill, as she told the Huffington Post on Sunday:
"I think that there are certainly some members across the aisle that are giving this a second thought," Davis said. "And I wouldn't attribute that necessarily to anything I said or did. But the reaction that they're seeing -- the very organic reaction that they're seeing from across the state of Texas, I think it's giving some people pause, as it should."
Thousands of protesters are expected back at the Texas Capitol on Monday to voice their opposition to the bill.
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