Cruz Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ted Cruz in USA Today: End Planned Parenthood funding

Accounting gimmicks can't hide the fact that federal support ultimately pays for abortion.

HOUSTON, Texas — Today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote an op-ed in USA Today responding to the latest horrific videos showing Planned Parenthood callously discussing killing unborn children in order to sell their body parts. The full op-ed is available here and excerpts may be viewed below:

Over the past few weeks, Americans have seen a series of videos come out of Planned Parenthood that are nothing short of horrifying. The footage shows senior Planned Parenthood officials laughing, swilling chardonnay and casually, callously, heartlessly discussing killing unborn children in order to sell their body parts. These videos also force Americans to face the grim reality of what happens to the babies' remains.

While the sheer candor of these Planned Parenthood officials has shocked most, what is more disturbing is the admission that these barbaric actions are standard practice in some abortion clinics. Worse still, Americans are currently forced to fund the organization that commits these acts. This must end. An organization that generates a large part of its revenue from terminating innocent human life should not receive one penny of taxpayer money and those who engage in what may be criminal activity must be held to account.

For this reason, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell should not schedule or facilitate the consideration of any legislation that gives federal money to Planned Parenthood. Instead, the Department of Justice needs to investigate and prosecute Planned Parenthood for any potential criminal actions of commercial trafficking of fetal organs.

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The abortion industry places more value on killing babies than it does on the sanctity of human life, and under no circumstance should it receive taxpayer funds. This is more than a mere fiscal matter — this is a moral issue. How we handle this issue reflects who we are as Americans and what we value most — either the lives of the most innocent and the health of our nation's mothers, daughters and sisters or the fiscal solvency of an industry that exists to abort babies.

For these reasons, I intend to lead the fight in the United States Senate to defund Planned Parenthood, even while investigations continue. The time for show votes is over. Funding the federal government does not require funding Planned Parenthood. But basic decency and our commitment to the right to life does require that we stop taxpayer funding of abortions and any trade in baby parts.