As anti-abortion activists watched closely, Texas Senator Wendy Davis stood from 11:18 am until 10 pm on Tuesday, in a feat of stamina and conviction, and filibustered the Republican sponsored abortion bill in the Texas State Senate.

Although Republicans are in the majority in the Texas Senate, they do not hold enough seats to ward off a filibuster by Democrats.

Republican Senators watched her every move and listened to every word closely trying to catch her in a violation of their filibuster rules which forbid leaning on her desk for support, or sitting, taking a bathroom break or even going off-topic.

They even objected to a fellow democrat from helping place a back brace on the senator after she had been standing for about seven hours. After 11 hours, three Republican challenges to her speech were upheld and her filibuster came to a close. Republicans won rulings for Davis getting improper assistance adjusting her backbrace and for straying from topic. Her third strike was determined to be a straying from topic, and upheld by Dewhurst, when she discussed a 2011 law involving sonograms and abortions.

The sweeping law, SB 5, would have severely curtailed abortions in the state of Texas. The law would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and would have made it mandatory that clinics performing abortions to upgrade their facilities to a ambulatory surgical center classification. In addition, the doctor at the facility would have to have admitting priviledges at a hospital within thirty miles.

If passed, the bill would have closed all but five of the 42 clinics in the state.

Then, after the decision to curtail the Davis filibuster was made, in the final 15 minutes before the midnight deadline for the special session approached, hundreds of protesters and spectators,on all levels of the Texas Capitol, chanted, hollared and clapped, delaying the the roll call vote on the bill. The protestors chanted, “Shame, shame, shame..”

Republicans say that the vote had been taken prior to the stroke of midnight, but Democrats say that the final vote did not occur until about 12:02 am. Either way, the bill was not signed in the presence of the Senate by 12 midnight and so was not enrolled.

Lt Governor David Dewhurst, the acting Senate President said at midnight that the vote had been taken prior to midnight but would later reverse himself saying that the vote in fact took place after the 12 O’clock deadlline.

The protesters called their actions during the final minutes of the special session a “people’s filibuster,” but Dewhurst called them instead, an “unruly mob.”

Planned Parenthood weighed in on the failed bill during the early morning hours.

“This fight showed once again that we are all better off when women and their doctors — not politicians — are the ones making medical decisions,” Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said. “We made history tonight, but we know this isn’t the end of the fight to protect women’s access to health care in Texas.”

Governor Perry’s office announced, “The governor reserves the right to call the legislature back into special session anytime during the interim.”