Texas - Governor and State Senator Clash on Abortion - NYTimes.com Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday admonished Wendy Davis, the state senator whose filibuster helped kill new Texas abortion restrictions and brought her to national notice. Mr. Perry, a Republican, said Ms. Davis's own rise from difficult beginnings to Harvard Law School should have taught her the value of each human life. He expanded on those remarks later, publicly wondering what might have happened had Ms. Davis's own mother undergone an abortion. Ms. Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat, shot back that Mr. Perry's statement "tarnishes the high office he holds." Ms. Davis staged a marathon filibuster on Tuesday, helping to defeat an omnibus bill that would have further limited abortions in a state where they are already hard to get. Mr. Perry has called lawmakers back for a second special session to try again to get the measure passed.