After banning the presence of any female hygiene products from its Senate floor, Texas passed its restrictive abortion law last night, which will ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy as well as install new regulations that will most likely drive abortion clinics out of business.

This afternoon, the Texas State Senate is debating House Bill 2, a hugely restrictive anti-abortion bill that would ban late-term abortions. A vote may take place tonight, so the capital gallery is currently at full-capacity. Meanwhile, state troopers have been searching through bags to confiscate tampons, feminine pads, and tissues before spectators have been allowed inside:

The Central Texas woman who was unconstitutionally interrupted by a lawmaker while delivering testimony at Monday's State Senate hearing on the newly revived abortion bill, and then dragged away from the podium by four DPS Troopers, finally got to finish talking.

Two weeks after State Senator Wendy Davis' 13-hour filibuster, the Texas House of Representatives provisionally approved an anti-abortion bill that many consider to be the most restrictive in the country. The vote will be finalized Wednesday, and then the measure will move to the Texas State Senate.

Texas senators began hearing public testimony yesterday on the recently revived anti-abortion bill SB 1.

This gem is thanks to ShortFormBlog's coverage of the abortion protests being waged at the Texas Capitol today.

Irish lawmakers today voted overwhelmingly in support of a bill that would clearly allow abortions to save the mother's life, but only in those instances. The Texas GOP looked on with a great and furious envy.

One day after announcing he was calling another special session of the Texas Legislature in order to try and pass a stringent abortion bill, Governor Rick Perry decided to publicly attack Wendy Davis, the state senator who successfully filibustered the bill for 13 hours on Tuesday.

It was fun while it lasted, but Texas Governor Rick Perry, a catcher's mitt in a cowboy hat, has called for a second special session of the Texas Legislature in an effort to pass a hyper-restrictive abortion bill. This after state Senator Wendy Davis, with the support of her Democratic colleagues, successfully filibustered the bill for about 15 hours yesterday, ultimately defeating it.

After a half-day filibuster that was controversially halted by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, Republicans in the Texas Senate scrambled to quickly pass the equally controversial abortion bill SB5, but were halted themselves by two hours of motions and parliamentary inquiries from Democrats trying to run out the clock on Gov. Rick Perry's special session.

After 13 hours, three warnings, a long debate about parliamentary procedure and hundreds of thousands of messages from supporters, Wendy Davis can finally sit down: SB5, the "toughest" abortion bill in the nation, is dead.

Shortly after 10 PM CDT, Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, in hour 11 of her historic filibuster to prevent an anti-abortion bill from passing, received her third point of order or warning, effectively meaning that the filibuster was over. Except it wasn't. The crowd erupted in protest and Senators have spent the past 40 minutes or so debating whether the point of order violated the Senate's rules. Watch live below:

The only thing left standing between Texas and one of the strictest anti-abortion bills in America is State Senator Wendy Davis.

The House of Representatives is today expected to pass a bill that would cut off legal abortions in America 20 weeks after fertilization. The bill likely has no chance of advancing through the Senate, but ThinkProgress reports that this kind of legislation is succeeding on the state level in places around the country.

Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion doctor accused of murdering one patient and numerous babies in a filthy clinic later described as a "baby charnel house," was just found guilty on three out of four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of four babies.

Kansas governor Sam Brownback signed the state's far-reaching anti-abortion bill Friday, surrounded by a smiling group of pro-life onlookers at a Statehouse ceremony. But among them, unseen, was the original anti-abortion power duo.

Is there any way to understand this latest bit of schwag (pictured below) from Texas Congressman Steve Stockman other than to think he'd like to see armed fetuses shooting their way out of the wombs of pregnant women who are considering having abortions? Zygotes threatening their mothers with guns—what a grisly and horrifying thought, not to mention stupid considering that a fetus can't aim for shit. But very funny, apparently, to Steve Stockman, who wants you to know you can have one of these bumper stickers all for yourself if you donate just $10 to his 2014 reelection campaign.

Two steps forward, one million steps back, as the old saying goes.

The passage of a new "6-week ban" makes North Dakota the nation's most restrictive state on abortion rights. Congrats.

The North Dakota House passed a bill this afternoon that would define life as beginning at conception, effectively moving one step closer to banning all abortion in the state without exception for rape or incest. Approved by the state Senate last month, the bill will now go to voters as a ballot initiative. This latest restrictive measure comes only a week after North Dakota legislators approved bills that would ban abortion beyond six weeks into pregnancy and ban abortion in the case of genetic abnormality, like Downs Syndrome.