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Wendy Davis Says Not to Let Post-Election Blues Ruin Your 2017

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Wendy Davis, the former Democratic Texas state senator who gained national prominence for her 11-hour filibuster against a bill on abortion restrictions, doesn’t want women to wallow during Donald Trump‘s presidency.

Davis wrote an essay for Bustle about how women should respond to the disappointment they may feel due to Hillary Clinton’s loss and President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming presidency. Davis never refers to Trump or Clinton by name, but she warns of a potentially “hostile” administration and a lost hope of seeing “a woman raise her right hand..to assume the oval office.”

As Trump prepares to take office, many women are concerned with what’s at stake for women’s healthcare and reproductive rights. “So …… What to do?”

The answer to that question, according to Davis, shouldn’t include being complacent. “I could continue to reel in the disappointment that we still have so far to go. But I know the danger in that. Wallowing is a luxury we can’t afford,” she said. “There’s too much at stake.”

But Davis says women shouldn’t be complacent. “I could continue to reel in the disappointment that we still have so far to go. But I know the danger in that. Wallowing is a luxury we can’t afford,” she said. “There’s too much at stake.”

Davis has criticized Trump before, calling his statements about Former Miss Universe Alicha Machado “mind-boggling” and other comments about women “derogatory.” She told Rolling Stone in June that a Trump presidency would likely unravel progress on women’s reproductive rights, civil rights and immigration.

“We are our actions. And in 2017 we’ll give meaning to our words through the actions we will take. One by one by one. Until, finally, we’ll make the change we want to see,” Davis said.

[Bustle]

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Write to Samantha Cooney at samantha.cooney@time.com