BREAKING: "Ted Cruz Touted the Endorsement of an Activist Who Supported Killing 'Abortionists'"
AUSTIN, Texas – A bombshell report from Mother Jones reveals that Ted Cruz “touted the support” of a man who argued that doctors who perform abortions should be executed.
Troy Newman, who Cruz named as a co-chair of his campaign’s anti-abortion coalition, also said any woman who chooses to have an abortion “is the same as a contract killer, hiring out the murder of her defenseless child.”
Newman coauthored a book with Cheryl Sullenger, who was convicted of attempting to bomb an abortion clinic. Cruz promoted the book in his announcement of Newman’s support.
Read the full report here:
Mother Jones: Ted Cruz Touted the Endorsement of an Activist Who Supported Killing “Abortionists”
By Abby Vesoulis
In 2015, as Sen. Ted Cruz mounted a competitive presidential campaign and courted the religious right ahead of the Iowa caucuses, the Texas Republican touted the support of a controversial anti-abortion crusader.
“I am grateful to receive the endorsement of Troy Newman,” Cruz said… “We need leaders like Troy Newman in this country who will stand up for those who do not have a voice.”
Newman wasn’t just any anti-abortion activist: He was, and is, the leader of Operation Rescue—a group that in 1991 held weeks-long protests at the abortion clinic of George Tiller, who was later assassinated by an anti-abortion extremist. Moreover, Newman has claimed that extreme weather was God’s punishment for America’s tolerance for abortion and gay rights; he also co-wrote a book that endorsed the execution of abortion providers.
It was at that point, in January 2016, that Cruz named Newman as one of 10 co-chairs leading the anti-abortion coalition. The Cruz campaign press release announcing Newman’s appointment mentioned Newman’s book, Their Blood Cries Out, in his bio. Now out of print, the anti-abortion manifesto, first published in 2000, contains eye-popping passages, including one section arguing that the US government should execute “abortionists.”
Newman co-authored the book with Cheryl Sullenger, who was earlier convicted and imprisoned for her involvement in an attempt to bomb an abortion clinic in California in 1987.
The full extent of Newman’s relationship to Cruz is unclear; neither Newman nor Cruz’s congressional office responded to inquiries from Mother Jones.
But in addition to Cruz’s presidential campaign materials that mention Newman, there are pictures of Newman posing with Cruz, and with Cruz’s then-chief-of-staff, Paul Teller, on Newman’s Facebook profile alongside a caption: “Ted Cruz may have come in number two in the [presidential] primary, but he is number one to me!”
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