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We are all Wendy Davis
Turning Texas Sane
The young woman at the center of this frame is my daughter’s friend, Olivia. On this tense day in the heat of the Texas summer, Olivia is quietly paying close attention to the action on the chamber floor. She has a dog in this fight. It’s highly personal. Her parents have a clinic here in Austin that will have to shut down as a result of the legislative bill (#SB5) that catapulted Wendy Davis into the national spotlight. Her parents, her family, will have to scramble to make ends meet. All of the women who’ve counted on their clinic, will have to make other arrangements.
As close and personal as that is, Olivia was rooting for Wendy Davis before she was Wendy Davis. Because Wendy Davis is not “Abortion Barbie;” she’s not a witch. She IS us. She is the new face of the voice of every woman in this state dumbfounded and embarrassed by the right-wing, science-denying, pro-gun, religious fanatic lunacy that spews out of the mouths of politicians who are paid to represent our voice in government. We are all Wendy Davis. Olivia, me, all my friends, and all the women who swarmed the Capitol rotunda this summer.
Olivia worked for both Obama campaigns, here in Austin as a volunteer in ‘08 and as a paid organizer in Florida in ‘12. Today, she’s working for Battleground Texas which aims to turn Texas blue.
She is out front. And she is fighting. She’s with Wendy, and I am too.
