(CNS News) – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said that “every human being…should be protected in law,” when asked if unborn babies qualified as “persons.”
At the U.S. Capitol on Aug. 4, CNS News asked Cruz, “There are two babies eight months past conception: One is in the womb; and one is born. Are they both considered ‘persons?’ Or is personhood defined by the baby's location?”
Although Cruz did not explicitly say that unborn babies are “persons,” he said all human beings “should be protected in law.” (When asked in 2015, "Do you believe that unborn babies are persons within the meaning of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment,” Cruz said, “Absolutely, yes.”)
“I believe every human being is a precious gift from God, and should be protected in law,” the senator told CNS News.
Under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, no state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Cruz told CNS News on July 19 that he does not believe abortion is moral, and he thinks the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling overturning Roe v. Wade is “correct” in leaving the issue of abortion up to “elected legislatures.”
Kansas, the first state to vote on abortion rights after the Dobbs ruling, failed to pass a proposed amendment to their state constitution protecting unborn life.
On Tuesday, Aug. 2, nearly 60% of Kansas voters rejected the Value Them Both Amendment stating there is no constitutional right to an abortion, and elected members of their state legislature can regulate abortion.
The rejected ballot measure read, “A vote for the Value Them Both Amendment would affirm there is no Kansas constitutional right to abortion or to require the government funding of abortion, and would reserve to the people of Kansas, through their elected state legislators, the right to pass laws to regulate abortion.”
Kentucky, another Republican-leaning state, is scheduled to vote on a similar constitutional amendment in November.
California, Montana, and Vermont will also vote on abortion-related measures on their November primary ballot.
While 77% of Americans say the Supreme Court should uphold Roe, 61% said they support limitations on abortion, including allowing abortion in just the first three months of a pregnancy (23%); only in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the woman (29%); or only to save the life of the woman (9%), according to a June NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll.