Wendy Davis: Texas abortion bill is 'repugnant' intrusion on women's liberty

Texas state Senator Wendy Davis (D) appeared on Tuesday night's edition of "The Rachel Maddow Show" to discuss Republican overreach and what steps may come next for the re-invigorated Texas Democratic Party.

Should the draconian Republican abortion bill pass, Davis said [Ed note: It did pass the House committee late Tuesday night and is headed for a full vote next week], it would be subject to immediate challenge by Democrats in the state government.

"If Democratic leaders are not able to stop the passage of the bill, I would be shocked if it weren't immediately followed with some sort of a suit to enjoin its enforcement," she said, "based on it intruding upon the constitutionally guaranteed liberties that exist in this country."

Maddow asked what specific aspect of the bill would make it most legally vulnerable, the ban of all abortions after 20 weeks or the closing of all but five of the state's abortion clinics.

"I think the thing that is most repugnant to the constitutional is the idea of intruding a woman's liberty and that protected right to make that difficult decision," Davis said. "And with the closure of so many of these clinics, but also, Rachel, included in this bill is a severe limitation on the number of doctors that would be able to practice in this arena. That severe limitation on her liberty is going to be the best thing that has the chance of a constitutional challenge."

The fight that she and other Texas Democrats are waging are about women's health, Davis insisted. Republicans say the measures they're passing are ostensibly about women's access to health care, but "in fact, all objective medical scientists and doctors who have weighed in on this say this will endanger women's health" and women will be forced to seek abortions in "the back alley."

Davis said that she believes that most Republicans are moderates at heart, supporting neither far left nor far right politics, but for those people, she said, "unfortunately, their agendas are being hijacked by Republican partisan politicians who are using issues that truly put people at risk."

"That's the most upsetting thing," she concluded, that Texas Republicans' electioneering "puts women and their health at risk."

Watch the clip, embedded via MSNBC, below:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy