Breaking into the spotlight in June 2013, Wendy Davis voiced her opinion on abortion in front of a congressional body. This Democratic Woman stood out that night as a pro-choice candidate from Texas, a state with primarily male leadership and traditional religious ideas. Davis held a filibuster to derail an anti-abortion bill that would restrict hundreds of women from receiving the treatment they chose to have.

Until recently, Davis appeared to be standing up for nothing more than women’s rights and somatic rights in general. “I have always held the perspective that I have now. I have always believed that this is a decision uniquely for women and their family. It’s not one that government ought to intrude upon,” Davis informs The Huffington Post. But in a newly-published memoir, she reveals that she underwent two abortions, the first an ectopic pregnancy and the second because the baby would be born with an extreme brain abnormality and her physicians believed the baby would die suffer greatly and die. The couple decided that it was most humane to terminate the pregnancy. Davis stands out because male lawmakers who have been campaigning for tougher restrictions cannot possibly have first person experience, only theoretical and general information.

Davis relates to the average woman in many ways, and she should stand as an inspiration because of the experience she has gained over the years as a woman and as an individual. She can relate to a vast majority of ages because when she was 13 her parents got a divorce, and then when she was in her late teens she got married to her high school boyfriend and had a baby. Not only was she a teen mom, but she soon separated from her then-husband (later to get a divorce) and became a single mom. Then, during her second marriage, she underwent two abortions. Experiencing all this at a young age makes her sympathetic to the struggles women face daily and actively campaign for more tolerant women’s rights policies.

She went on to enter a community college and continued advancing until she attended and graduated Harvard Law School. She then entered minor-level politics, which considering the statistics of other women with similar backgrounds, was unexpected. Davis told National Public Radio (NPR) that there is a great leap between “[Working] two jobs, [having] a full-time job during the day and [waiting} tables at night,” to where she is now, running for governor in Texas.