Ted Cruz avoids the question of exceptions to the abortion ban in the Allred debate

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas struggled to answer questions about exceptions to the abortion ban on the debate stage Tuesday night, instead trying to portray his Democratic opponent, Rep. Colin Allred, as extreme on abortion.

Cruz was asked several times whether he supported or opposed exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape or incest, and contradicted the moderators' questions.

“Why do you keep asking me that?” asked the Republican, dodging the question for the third time.

Cruz, facing perhaps his toughest re-election fight, repeatedly tried to draw attention to Allred when it came to parental consent for minors seeking the procedure and accused his opponent of wanting to legalize “late-term abortion.” (Such abortions – those that occur at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy – account for less than 1% of all abortions and are often only performed in extreme medical situations such as a severe fetal anomaly or to save the pregnant person's life.)

After the US Supreme Court Roe v. Wade repealed, Texas enacted a near-total ban on abortion except to save the life of the mother. However, these exceptions are allowed in extremely rare cases, and many patients have been denied an abortion even if life-threatening problems arose during the pregnancy. The Texas Medical Board later issued new guidance to clarify these exceptions after Kate Cox, whose fetus had a fatal diagnosis, was forced to leave the state to terminate her pregnancy. According to the New York Times, Texas had the most patients traveling across state lines for the procedure in 2023: 35,500 patients traveled last year, compared to around 2,400 in 2019.

Cruz is a staunch anti-abortion activist who has long advocated for restrictions on access to abortion; When Roe fell in 2022, he called it “nothing short of a tremendous pro-life victory.” But with abortion set to be one of the major issues of this election, Cruz has somewhat muted his vehement opposition to abortion rights, while Allred has pushed for the restoration of those rights in was the focus of his election campaign.

In Tuesday's debate, Allred said Cruz was trying to portray himself as a moderate despite his record. The Democrat also vehemently rejected Cruz's claim that the incumbent is “pro-life.”

“It is not life-threatening to deny women care for so long that they can no longer have children. “Forcing a rape victim to carry her rapist’s baby to term is not anti-life,” Allred said. “So to every Texas woman at home and every Texas family watching this: Understand that when Ted Cruz says he’s pro-life, he doesn’t mean yours.”