Revealed: Ted Cruz had extensive ties to activist who wanted 'abortionists' murdered

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has fallen silent on abortion as he faces a challenge from Democratic Rep. Colin Allred in 2024, and as his state has come under fire for one of the nation's most extreme abortion bans and women have been forced to flee to other states for care. But back in his first term in office, he was much more outspoken in favor of laws like this.

And furthermore, he had ties to a known extremist figure who called for the killing of "abortionists," according to Mother Jones.

“I am grateful to receive the endorsement of Troy Newman,” Cruz said while running for president in 2015 at the Iowa Republican caucuses. “He has served as a voice for the unborn for over 25 years, and works tirelessly every day for the pro-life cause. We need leaders like Troy Newman in this country who will stand up for those who do not have a voice.”

Newman, reported Abby Vesoulis, is best known as the leader of the extreme anti-abortion group 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." The book stated, "The United States government has abrogated its responsibility to properly deal with the blood-guilty. This responsibility rightly involves executing convicted murderers, including abortionists.”

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His co-author, Cheryl Sullenger, was actually sentenced to prison over a plot to bomb a California abortion clinic in 1987.

Following the Supreme Court's elimination of Roe v. Wade protections and a sustained backlash to GOP abortion bans that has seen voters defeat anti-abortion proposals and laws at the ballot box in states like Kansas and Ohio, Cruz has become considerably more muted on the topic. He has also introduced legislation to protect access to in vitro fertilization, as anti-abortion judges and activists try to attack that procedure as well.