AUSTIN, Texas – This morning as the U.S. Supreme Court continued to uphold Texas's dangerous abortion ban, putting the health and safety of millions of Texas women at risk, the Texas Tribune reported on Ted Cruz’s efforts to hide from his anti-choice record and support for the near-total abortion ban.

Texas Tribune: Facing a tight race, Ted Cruz goes quiet on abortion

By Kayla Guo

• U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz has been a loud anti-abortion crusader throughout his political career. But as reproductive rights loom over the election season as a key issue for voters, Cruz is uncharacteristically quiet.

• Cruz, through a spokesperson, declined a request for an interview.

• The Texas Tribune reached out to his campaign eight times over six weeks to ask about his positions, posing nine initial questions via email and several follow ups on topics ranging from his past support for a national abortion ban to how he squares his belief in fetal personhood with his support for IVF — a process which routinely involves the disposal of fertilized embryos.

• When the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022, Cruz celebrated the decision as “nothing short of a massive victory for life” that would not outlaw abortion across the country, but leaves “abortion policy up to the states and returns power to the American people.”

• Cruz did not respond directly to a question about whether he still supports a federal ban.

• Cruz declined to directly answer whether he thought Texas should add carveouts for rape and incest and if he thought the state’s exception to save the life of the mother was working.

• But during his 2016 presidential run, Cruz said at a town hall in Wisconsin that he did not support an exemption for rape.

• “When it comes to rape, rape is a horrific crime against the humanity of a person, and needs to be punished and punished severely," Cruz said. "But at the same time, as horrible as that crime is, I don't believe it's the child's fault.”

• Cruz also did not respond to a question asking if he supported an idea Trump floated to make IVF free for all Americans.

• Cruz did not respond to questions about whether he believes an embryo created through IVF constitutes a person.

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