US Senate candidates Ted Cruz and Colin Allred sit down with ABC13, discuss campaigns

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Both men seeking to win Texas' U.S. Senate seat are in Houston on Wednesday, and both discussed the state of the campaign as Colin Allred tries to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz's bid for a third term. One focus was reproductive rights and new legislation Cruz cosponsored in the Senate that would virtually guarantee the right to in-vitro fertilization (IVF) in all 50 states, tying its protection to Medicaid funding.

Cruz: "Rather than tell people, 'Trust us,' let's put it into federal law. Let's make it ironclad that this right will be protected. I hope that's what Congress does," he said.

ABC13: So, if abortion is a state's rights issue, which the Supreme Court has said it is, why would IVF then not be a state's rights issue?

Cruz: "Well, what the Supreme Court has said is that abortion is an issue that people disagree passionately on. People of good faith have good morals, (they) have deep emotional, strong personal views on abortion. I think there's a role for federal legislation in something like IVF. As I said, 84% of Americans strongly support it. Every single U.S. senator says they support it. And so this is a natural area where a federal protection makes sense 'cause we've got consensus."

ABC13: So do you see reproductive rights, whether it's IVF or abortion, being an issue in your campaign this year?

Cruz: "Of course. And listen, the Democrats have a political challenge because every Democrat in the Senate and Colin Allred as well, their substantive views on abortion are, are really extreme. And they're outside of the mainstream."

Colin Allred: "Number one to me is restoring freedom, uh, here in Texas and to Texans. And to me, that includes our freedom to make your own healthcare decisions, including access to an abortion. Our state's near-total ban on abortion has gone much, much too far. And it's placing us in a position where, uh, you know, more and more tragic stories are coming out every single day from women being turned away from hospitals because they're not sick enough yet, uh, to be treated."

ABC13: He (Cruz) characterizes all Democrats and includes you in this as having extreme positions on abortion. What is your position on abortion?

Allred: "I think it's pretty simple. We need to go back to the standard that we've had for the last 50 years in this country and in Texas, uh, which is the standard that we have in Roe V Wade. There's nothing extreme about that. Uh, I'm a father too. My wife and I have been blessed with two healthy pregnancies and thank God in the last, uh, five years. But I also, that those rooms, when you're having an ultrasound test and you're having a genetic test, those rooms are too small to have Ted Cruz in there too, when you're trying to make some of these really difficult decisions. Well, to me, we have to go back to the standard that we had previously, which the states do have some flexibility within certain standards, but that, overall, that this right should be restored and should be placed in the hands of women, their doctors in consultation at times with their family and their faith. And I think Texans are used to this."

ABC13 also spoke with both men about the campaign in general and their other top issues. You can watch that on our next episode of This Week in Texas, which premieres Saturday night, June 1, wherever you stream ABC13.

Cruz, a Republican, is seeking his third term in the U.S. Senate. Allred, a Congressman from North Texas, is the Democratic nominee.

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