--- title: Wendy Davis Discusses Her Abortion in Memoir description: “An indescribable blackness followed,” she writes canonical: https://time.com/3281716/wendy-davis-abortion/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-06T13:01:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:31.718Z article:section: Politics og:title: Wendy Davis Discusses Her Abortion in Memoir og:description: “An indescribable blackness followed,” she writes og:url: https://time.com/3281716/wendy-davis-abortion/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e4b0da29ae4da9f/6986a23f810bbbf1cfc934c3/ap973008663346.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1362 og:image:height: 766 og:image:alt: Wendy Davis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wendy Davis Discusses Her Abortion in Memoir twitter:description: “An indescribable blackness followed,” she writes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2e4b0da29ae4da9f/6986a23f810bbbf1cfc934c3/ap973008663346.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Wendy Davis: Abortion 17 Years Ago Left Me 'Forever Changed' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=1e608295-b6c4-4b8d-8c2b-e30eee9f26f7&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Abortion Decision Announced in Texas [Watch (HLS stream): Abortion Decision Announced in Texas](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KNEHiPaj.m3u8) (0:50)  _Published 2013-06-26. Chaos erupts in the Senate as policy makers and spectators hear the announcement that the controversial abortional bill was not passed._  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Sep 6, 2014 1:01 PM UTC  Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis presents her new education policy during a stop at Palo Alto College in San Antonio on Aug. 26, 2014\. Davis reveals in a new campaign memoir called Forgetting to be Afraid that she terminated two pregnancies for medical reasons in the 1990s, including one where the fetus had developed a severe brain abnormality Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis presents her new education policy during a stop at Palo Alto College in San Antonio on Aug. 26, 2014\. Davis reveals in a new campaign memoir called Forgetting to be Afraid that she terminated two pregnancies for medical reasons in the 1990s, including one where the fetus had developed a severe brain abnormality Eric Gay—AP  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Sep 6, 2014 1:01 PM UTC Texas state senator Wendy Davis, the Democrat running for Texas governor against Republican attorney general Greg Abbott, [tells](http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Davis-discloses-terminating-pregnancy-of-daughter-5737297.php) in her upcoming memoir the story of a pregnancy she and her then husband decided to terminate 17 years ago. In the book _Forgetting to Be Afraid_, slated for release next week, Davis says multiple doctors offered medical opinions that the fetus suffered from an acute brain abnormality that was likely incompatible with life, reports the San Antonio _Express-News_. During the procedure, Davis said she felt the baby, who they’d named Tate Elise, “tremble violently, as if someone were applying an electric shock to her.” A doctor stopped the unborn baby’s heart and the child was delivered by cesarean section. “An indescribable blackness followed. It was a deep, dark despair and grief, a heavy wave that crushed me, that made me wonder if I would ever surface,” writes Davis. “And when I finally did come through it, I emerged a different person. Changed. Forever changed.” The abortion debate has been front and center in the Texas governor race that pits Davis, a Democrat who rocketed to national prominence by filibustering passage of strict abortion restrictions in the state, against Abbott, a staunch abortion opponent. Davis trails Abbott in the polls and faces long odds to win in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office in two decades. Her abortion is not expected to hurt her political fortunes, since only a very small number of hard-liners who were unlikely to support her in any event oppose abortion in the case of fetal abnormality. \[[_San Antonio Express-News_](http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Davis-discloses-terminating-pregnancy-of-daughter-5737297.php)\] ## Transcript [00:00] [ NOISE ] If I can't have order we will suspend the role [00:02] call vote until we can get order in the chamber. [00:05] [ NOISE ] I'm [00:12] trying [00:30] to do [00:40] it. [ NOISE ] [00:45] If [00:50] I can have some order. 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