Did Royce West Support Wendy Davis And So-Called Late-Term Abortions?

Our weekly check-in with the Texas Truth-O-Meter.

By Alexandra HartAugust 14, 2019 12:44 pm,

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn just released the first attack ad of his 2020 campaign, now that a number of challengers are vying for his seat. In the TV commercial, a narrator says Democratic state Sen. Royce West supported Wendy Davis during her famous 2013 filibuster against Texas Senate Bill 5, which banned abortions after 20 weeks.

“West is a liberal politician who stood with Wendy Davis to support painful late-term abortions,” the narrator in the commercial says.

Is that a fact? Madlin Mekelburg of the PolitiFact Texas fact-checking team based at the Austin American-Statesman has the answer.

West was one of the Democrats trying to keep Davis’ filibuster going; there’s no question he supported her efforts, Mekelburg says. But it’s unclear whether his support also meant he supported so-called late-term abortions because SB 5 included many provisions.  

“The question here is what the legislation itself actually said and why West and Davis decided to oppose it,” Mekelburg says. “[It] definitely included a ban on abortions 20 weeks post-fertilization, but that was one small piece of it.”

Hear how Cornyn’s claim scored in the player above.

 

Written by Marina Marquez.