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A wild night in the Texas Senate as a rowdy gallery helps Sen. Wendy Davis finish a filibuster of Senate Bill 5's abortion restrictions.
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Sen. Wendy Davis speaks with other Democrats before beginning her attempt to filibuster Senate Bill 5. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. Wendy Davis begins her filibuster, wearing a pair of pink sneakers. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. Wendy Davis listens to Sen. Eddie Lucio during her filibuster of Senate Bill 5. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. Tommy Williams listens to discussion about his complaint Davis strayed from the subject of the bill. (Patrick Michels)
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House Democrats, and a few Republicans, watched the filibuster from outside the rails. (Patrick Michels)
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The Senate gallery reacts to action on the floor. (Patrick Michels)
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Crowds waiting in the overflow room during the debate over Davis' third warning for her filibuster of Senate Bill 5. (Nick Swartsell)
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Sen. Wendy Davis during her filibuster of Senate Bill 5. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. Robert Duncan, presiding over the Senate, struggles to hear over the yells from the gallery. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. Wendy Davis signals her "no" vote as the gallery erupts before midnight. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. John Whitmire subtly reminds the hollering gallery that midnight is just a few minutes away. (Patrick Michels)
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Wendy Davis, Kirk Watson and other Senate Democrats signal their opposition to Senate Bill 5, minutes before midnight. (Patrick Michels)
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House Democrats Mary Gonzalez and Borris Miles hold up their fingers to signal a symbolic "no" vote no on Senate Bill 5. (Beth Cortez-Neavel)
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Sen. Donna Campbell (R-New Braunfels) makes her plea to clear the Senate gallery minutes before midnight. (Patrick Michels)
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State troopers enter the Senate gallery before clearing out the crowd. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. Dan Patrick (R-Houston) films the noisy moments before midnight in the Senate chamber. (Patrick Michels)
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Sen. Wendy Davis gets a raucous welcome from the crowd outside the Senate chamber after midnight. (Patrick Michels)
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More protesters in the Capitol addition against SB5. (Nick Swartsell)
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After back-room negotiations, senators prepare to return to the floor and officially cut off Senate Bill 5, hours after the special session was supposed to end. (Patrick Michels)
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Some Senate Democrats talk before officially ending the special session without passing Senate Bill 5. (Patrick Michels)
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After midnight Wednesday morning, the Capitol rotunda is still packed. (Patrick Michels)
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Kirk Watson (D-Austin) tells the press how proud he is of Davis and other Democrats: "We knew we had to fight that fight. And we were ready for that fight. " (Beth Cortez-Nevavel.)
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Protesters in the Texas Capitol rotunda after midnight (Nick Swartsell)
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A crowd listens to Sen. Wendy Davis in the Capitol rotunda early Wednesday morning. (Patrick Michels)
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A crowd listens to Sen. Wendy Davis in the Capitol rotunda early Wednesday morning. (Patrick Michels)
With the Texas Senate poised to approve one the harshest anti-abortion laws in the country—just 15 minutes before the midnight deadline—and Senate Democrats apparently out of maneuvers, the crowd took over. Thousands of orange-clad abortion-rights activists who packed the Texas Capitol all day began roaring louder and louder until they literally shouted down the final minutes of the 30-day special session before Republicans could pass the bill. Read the full account of last night’s Senate battle.