Media Hailed Wendy Davis’ Abortion Filibuster as Heroic, But Attack Ted Cruz

The media treatment of Ted Cruz and his anti-Obamacare filibuster is a significant contrast from the way it handled the filibuster Texas lawmaker Wendy Davis mounted to keep abortions legal in Texas up tot he day of birth.

Sen. Ted Cruz, also from Texas, pulled an all-nighter in the U.S. Senate as he advocated for the defunding of Obamacare. Wearing black tennis shoes for comfort in the same way Davis sported pink sneakers, the Texas senator started speaking at 2:41 p.m. on Tuesday and has continued for almost 20 hours as of this writing.

“I will say standing here after 14 hours, standing on your feet, there’s sometimes some pain, sometimes some fatigue that is involved,” Cruz said. “But you know what? There’s far more pain involved in rolling over…far more pain in hiding in the shadows, far more pain in not standing for principle, not standing for the good, not standing for integrity.”

Cruz beat the record for the longest speech this year, but, as one report notes, the media is treating him much differently than the abortion activist Davis.

Flashback to the summer: Texas state senator Wendy Davis, with the help of a screaming mob, runs out the clock on a legislative session, thus delaying the passage of a bill to ban abortions of most babies in the 6th month of pregnancy and later. But at the time, it was clear Gov. Perry would simply call another session, and that the late-term abortion ban would eventually pass.

So, Davis was delaying the inevitable, but rallying supporters of legal late-term abortion. Also, it helped her raise tons of money and it jumpstarted a gubernatorial campaign.

The media spin was different: Hero! Giving a voice to women! Glowing interviews on every TV station.

Davis’s filibuster was no more likely than Cruz’s to change the law. Davis’s filibuster was just as self-promotional as Cruz’s, and just as directed at a bid for higher office. And Davis’s filibuster was in defense of something most people dislike: aborting viable and nearly-viable babies; while Cruz’s filibuster was in opposition to a law most people dislike: Obamacare.

The difference? I assume it’s this: The media generally supports legalized abortion while the media generally like Obamacare.

Several pro-life activists on Twitter have pointed out the difference in the Cruz versus Davis coverage: