Watch: Wendy Davis addresses crowd outside Texas State Capitol

Thousands of pro-choice activists gathered at the Texas State Capitol on Monday to kick off the state legislature's special session.

They were joined by Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth), who received national attention last week for her 11-hour filibuster against an anti-abortion bill. At the rally, she thanked her Democratic colleagues and pro-choice activists for helping block the legislation.

"Your voices joined together roaring through what we all understood was a raw abuse of power to secure victory," Davis said, referring to Republicans' attempt to vote on the bill by cutting her filibuster short. "How fitting that it was the people's filibuster that stopped S.B. 5 and put the politicians currently in power on notice."

She added that "too many" Texas politicians had attempted to boost their own career by "bullying" women by defunding Planned Parenthood and enacting unnecessary abortion laws that interfered with women's health care.

"Those in power have turned down millions of our federal dollars meant to help women here simply because they wanted to hurt one organization committed to quality health care in Texas," Davis said. "We have fought for years to convince these politicians that the best way to prevent unintended pregnancies is to give women real control of their lives by investing in good family planning services and honest, effective, age-appropriate sexual education for our kids."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) called for the special legislative session last week after Democrats successfully blocked the anti-abortion bill. The legislation would shutter all but five of the state’s abortion clinics and impose a 20-week abortion ban.

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube by Zachary Beaulieu, below: