Tampons banned, guns allowed at Texas senate vote

Tampons and sanitary pads have been confiscated at the Texas Capitol gallery, where senators are due to vote on controversial new abortion legislation.

Hundreds of Texans have protested against the new abortion bill, which the Huffington Post reports would prohibit abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force 37 out of 42 abortion clinics in Texas to close and undergo millions of dollars in upgrades.

State Troopers told members of the public that the items were to be confiscated to prevent them being used as projectiles. Ironically, attendees were told licenced firearms would be permitted within the Capitol.

According to Burnt Orange Report, state Senator Kirk Watson eventually convinced the DPS to stop confiscating the items.

A Texas Senate committee pushed through the new abortion restrictions, AP reported, setting up the Senate vote.

With the Republican majority set to pass the bill, a top Democrat says his party's efforts to block it at the Capitol have run out. Sen. Royce West of Dallas says abortion rights activists will ask the courts to intervene.

The bill returned to the Senate chamber, where a filibuster and outbursts from the public gallery previously interrupted a vote on June 25.