“That’s Not Freedom”: Allred Slams Cruz Over Texas Abortion Ban in Fiery Debate
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, asks a question during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Feb. 9. Mariam Zuhaib/NPR
Sparks flew during the Texas Senate debate on Tuesday night, as Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL player and civil rights lawyer, challenged incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz on his stance regarding abortion. Allred, the Democratic challenger, repeatedly criticized Cruz for supporting one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country, which has become a pivotal issue in the race.
While polls show Cruz with a slight lead, Allred is making a strong push to become the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Texas since the 1990s. “Senator Cruz just called himself pro-life. You’re not,” Allred declared during the debate. “It’s not pro-life to deny women care so long that they can’t have children anymore … To every Texas woman at home … when he says he’s pro-life, he doesn’t mean yours.”
Cruz attempted to portray Allred as the candidate with a radical position on abortion, but Allred wasn’t backing down. “It’s time to finally tell the truth here: Senator Cruz just looked into a camera and lied to Texans about my position,” Allred said, while Cruz visibly shook his head and chuckled.
Allred didn’t stop there, turning the conversation to the personal stories of Texas women who have suffered under the state’s stringent abortion laws. “Let’s be very clear: you should look into the camera and speak to Kate Cox, who’s watching right now, and explain to her why you said this law is ‘perfectly reasonable,’ why she was forced to leave her two children behind and flee our state to get the care that she needed,” Allred said.
“Or look into the camera and talk to Amanda Zurawski, who’s watching right now, and explain to her why it’s perfectly reasonable that because she had a complication in her pregnancy and was denied care for so long she may never be able to have children of her own.”
Allred’s powerful rebuttal continued, highlighting the impact of Texas’s abortion ban on survivors of rape. “To the 26,000 Texas women who’ve been forced to give birth to their rapist’s child under this law that you called perfectly reasonable — it’s not.”
He concluded with a personal story, referencing his own experience with the birth of his two sons in Dallas. “I trust Texas women to make their own health care decisions,” Allred said. “When I’m in the United States Senate, we’ll restore a woman’s right to choose, we’ll make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again, and we’ll make these stories of seeing these horrific experiences going on all over our state something of the past. That’s my commitment to Texans.”
The debate, one of the most heated moments of the campaign, underscored the deep divide on abortion policy in Texas and set the stage for a contentious final stretch leading to Election Day.
