{"id":81714,"date":"2015-12-05T10:46:28","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T15:46:28","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=81714"},"modified":"2015-12-05T11:29:30","modified_gmt":"2015-12-05T16:29:30","slug":"cruz-congress-can-end-abortion-without-the-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/cruz-congress-can-end-abortion-without-the-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz: Congress can end abortion without the Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pro-life Professor Robert George of the American Principles Project<\/a> has been conducting extensive interviews with the Republican presidential candidates, and in his talk with Ted Cruz<\/a>, the Texas Senator made his boldest pro-life promise yet.<\/p>\n

[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dr_yshI9D7A&w=560&h=315]<\/p>\n

[Relevant segment starts around 9:30]<\/em><\/p>\n

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GEORGE: Ted, the Fourteenth Amendment says that 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. Now, the amendment in its fifth section includes a provision that delegates to the Congress the power, and I quote, to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this article.<\/p>\n

CRUZ: Yep.<\/p>\n

GEORGE: Now, do you believe that unborn babies are persons within the meaning of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and if so will you call on Congress to use its authority under the Fourteenth Amendment, pursuant to Section 5, to protect the unborn? Or do you take the view, as some do, that we can\u2019t do that until Roe v. Wade is overturned, either by the court itself or by constitutional amendment? Where do you stand on that?<\/p>\n

CRUZ: Listen, absolutely yes. I think the first obligation of everyone in public office is to protect life. Life is foundational. In fact, as you look at the Declaration, that ordering of unalienable rights, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, I think it\u2019s a very deliberate ordering. Without life there is no liberty, and without liberty there is no pursuit of happiness. That each builds upon the other, and I very much agree with the Pope\u2019s longstanding, and prior popes before him, longstanding call to protect every human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.<\/p>\n

GEORGE: And we can do that by congressional action\u2014<\/p>\n

CRUZ: Absolutely yes.<\/p>\n

GEORGE: \u2014without waiting for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade?<\/p>\n

CRUZ: Absolutely yes, under the Fourteenth Amendment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Cruz isn\u2019t the only candidate to specifically affirm that Congress can end abortion without overturning Roe<\/em> or amending the Constitution\u2014Mike Huckabee has passionately made it a recurring theme<\/a> and Rand Paul sponsored the Life at Conception Act<\/a> in past sessions of Congress\u2014but he is the only one among the top tier of likely nominees<\/a>. Cruz has not yet specifically supported the LCA, but this is an encouraging sign he\u2019ll get there, too. *<\/p>\n

This is exactly where the focus of the national pro-life conversation needs to be. For years we\u2019ve been settling for little more from ostensible pro-life standard bearers than platitudes about changing hearts and minds<\/a>, overturning Roe<\/em> at some undetermined time in the future by appointing good judges, and generally failing to give the issue the emphasis it deserves<\/a>\u2026 and little changes nationally (there is more progress at the state level<\/a>, but they can only do so much within the federal shackles around abortion law). Add in the GOP\u2019s recent failures on defunding Planned Parenthood<\/a> and caving in to pressure on the 20-week abortion ban<\/a>, and it\u2019s clear the party needs to do something dramatic to regain pro-lifers\u2019 confidence.<\/p>\n

Going on offense against the narrative that pro-lifers are helpless is the answer. As we\u2019ve discussed before<\/a>, putting all our hopes in the judiciary simply leaves too many variables to chance, and amending the Constitution is too long-term a project to help the preborn that are dying today. But Roe v. Wade<\/em> itself admits that the Fourteenth Amendment may theoretically protect the preborn from abortion, giving Congress all the opening it needs to connect the theory with the incontrovertible facts<\/a> of what the preborn are.<\/p>\n

So go on offense. Directly engage what Roe<\/em> says. Educate the public that its results are more radical than they assume<\/a>. Have a real debate about the specifics of embryology and personhood and humanity. Drag pro-aborts out of the realm of platitudes by forcing them to really discuss abortion<\/a> in concrete terms for once in their lives. Show America that the issue isn\u2019t a question of women\u2019s health versus abstract, vaguely-religious-sounding notions of \u201csanctity of life,\u201d but about literal violence against children<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is also why pro-lifers themselves need to be the ones<\/a> interviewing pro-life candidates and moderating debates. We already know<\/a> most of these folks are promising to be pro-life presidents and are good at denouncing Planned Parenthood. We don\u2019t need another dozen evenings of them getting on stage and reciting their stump speeches. Instead, we need them to be put through substantive gauntlets like this one where we can get specifics on the record to compare and contrast, to have truly useful comparisons of how they would put their principles into practice:<\/p>\n