people learned that we would be speaking against this bill today and asked us to be their voice in this chamber. because we had two days to prepare, it gave us time to ask for letters. - this is from patricia, from bellaire, texas. we received over 16,000 stories from women who wanted so much for their voices to be heard. and this from julie in pflugerville, texas. from joy in fort worth. from martha, in luling, texas. from ellen. from harold. from jane. from myrtle. in 1944, when i was 10 years old, i almost lost my mother from a botched abortion. i had an abortion when i was 23. i was unemployed and suffering from health problems. i had to borrow money for the abortion, but i was fortunate enough to live close to a clinic.