Ted Cruz Schools Former Harvard Law Professor Over Abortion Claim
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) responded to one of his former Harvard Law School professors over the weekend after he bizarrely suggested conservatives’ opposition to abortion is linked to white supremacy.
Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard, tweeted Sunday, claiming white supremacists “oppose abortion because they fear it’ll reduce the number of white infants and thus contribute to what they fear as non-white ‘replacement.’”
White Supremacists oppose abortion because they fear it’ll reduce the number of white infants and thus contribute to what they fear as non-white “replacement.” Never underestimate the way these issues and agendas are linked. This turns “intersectionality” on its head.
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 11, 2019
According to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, white women are responsible for 36.9% of abortions in the U.S. while black women are responsible for 36%.
Cruz responded to Tribe’s faulty claim, calling it “deeply deceptive.”
1/2 My old con law prof, sadly, being deeply deceptive. Abortion targets in particular minority women. More than 1/2 of African-American babies, tragically, are aborted. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, was a vehement advocate of eugenics. https://t.co/Lx0T7XBLUy https://t.co/PjFR9loFnV
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 11, 2019
2/2 Here’s one particularly nasty quote from Margaret Sanger (1939): “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." https://t.co/LV0YgDqxyb
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 11, 2019
The Texas lawmaker quickly corrected his erroneous claim that more than half of all black babies across the country are aborted. In actuality, the data shows it is just slightly over 40% nationally.
“Still tragically high,” Cruz lamented.
A slight correction. Although some cities (eg, NYC) see over 50% abortion rates (in 2012-16 black mothers terminated 136,426 pregnancies & gave birth to 118,127 babies), nationally the total is just over 40%—still tragically high.https://t.co/EgZKw25nrmhttps://t.co/N2YpQw0mte https://t.co/LV0YgDqxyb
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 11, 2019
He also noted places like New York City, where thousands more black babies are aborted than born alive each year. Between 2012 and 2016, black mothers terminated 136,426 pregnancies and gave birth to 118,127 babies, according to The Wall Street Journal.
For his part, Tribe responded to Cruz and others who have criticized him.
The law professor said his words had been “misread” by detractors. Tribe went on to assert he never suggested all who oppose abortion are white supremacists.
Some have misread this to say that all those who oppose abortion are White Supremacists! Learn to read, folks! I neither said nor implied nor believe any such thing. Some X are Y doesn’t translate to all Y are X. Duh.https://t.co/HIsY9TyDxF
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 12, 2019
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