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Texas state senator alleges discrepancy in abortion bill vote

AUSTIN, Texas, June 27 (UPI) -- Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis said a vote on an abortion bill was backdated intentionally and she thinks there will be "further investigation" into the matter.

Davis, a Democrat, gained national attention when she led a filibuster Tuesday that effectively killed a bill in a special legislative session to restrict access to legal abortions. The filibuster had gone on for 10 hours when the chairman of the body ruled she had violated filibuster rules and ordered a vote, but chaos broke out when people in the gallery chanted and shouted "shame, shame, shame."

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A vote was held and was officially logged as having taken place before midnight -- beating a deadline for passage of the bill. After about 3 hours of confusion about the outcome, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, however, declared the session over without passage of the bill.

In an appearance Wednesday on CNN, Davis said an official in the office that processes official Texas legislative time sheets told another state senator the office had changed the date on the official record because it was "instructed to do it."

"So we know it was purposeful and I think there's going to be further investigation as to exactly what happened there," she said.

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry Wednesday called another special session of the Legislature, to begin July 1.

Davis said if Texas Republicans are "smarter about their time management," Democrats will likely be unable to defeat the bill with a filibuster again.

Perry, speaking Thursday at the National Right to Convention in Dallas, brought up Davis' personal life to argue against abortion.

"She's the daughter of a single woman," he said. "She was a teenage mother herself. She managed to eventually graduate from Harvard law school and serve in the Texas Senate. It's just unfortunate that she hasn't learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters."

In a statement posted on her state Senate website, Davis said Perry's remark "is without dignity and tarnishes the high office he holds."

"They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view," she said. "Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test."

Davis said Wednesday on MSNBC she "has aspirations to run for statewide office."

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