Over the weekend, Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, who is running against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in the U.S. Senate race in Texas, made some rather shocking remarks about his rabid support for abortion.
While speaking at an event for the Texas Tribune, Allred signaled he would nuke the filibuster in order to pass the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA). This came after The Bulwark's Tim Miller read from a laundry list of far-left talking points should Democrats hold onto the Senate and Vice President Kamala Harris win the presidential election. Included among them is not only a plan to "kill the filibuster," but also pass the Green New Deal and expand the U.S. Supreme Court. "Is that realistic," Miller asked Allred.
Evidently, Allred thinks it is, claiming that "the filibuster has to change because it's broken." Not only did he go on a lengthy explanation about how the filibuster was used to block civil rights laws--which was done by Democrats--he also brought up nuking the filibuster to pass pro-abortion legislation.
"I want to maintain the bipartisan nature of the Senate," Allred also claimed, as he then complained about how the chambers operate differently. "The current filibuster doesn't work, and so to me, we do have to reform it. We have to fix it," he again stressed.
Allred then brought up, all on his own, how "that is why we will codify Roe v. Wade and make it the law of the law." Later in the interview, while still speaking about the abortion issue, he spoke about unfettered abortion access as "believ[ing] in freedom," adding "and so we have to restore Roe v. Wade to this country." He would also later emphasize "if we want to restore freedom, we have to restore this."
.@RepColinAllred is an abortion extremist! Not only does he want abortion for any reason, but he wants to end the filibuster for the purpose of codifying Roe v. Wade. We cannot allow people like Congressman Allred to make the United States the Capitol of ending innocent babies… pic.twitter.com/0Y9406vWrj
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) September 10, 2024
There's another problem with that talking point, though, besides the level of abortion extremism involved. While Allred and others have promoted the WHPA under the guise that it would codify Roe, such a bill would actually expand the decision by allowing for elective abortion in all 50 states up until birth without legal limit.
The WHPA previously passed during the 117th Congress, when the House was controlled by the Democrats and supposedly "very Catholic" Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) served as the speaker. The bill couldn't even gain majority support in the Senate, though, which was also controlled by Democrats. West Virginia's Sen. Joe Manchin, then a Democrat voted against the bill, as did pro-choice Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
Allred also went with a pro-abortion narrative claiming that state limits on abortion affect women from being able to receive treatment for an ectopic pregnancy. Such a pregnancy is non-viable and could cause great harm or even death to the mother. Removing the pregnancy is a legal procedure in all 50 states and is not considered to be an abortion. Further, a mother's life is protected is protected in all 50 states.
The Texas Medical Board also clarified its rules to make abundantly clear that an "act is not an abortion if the act is done with the intent to... remove an ectopic pregnancy," but Allred and Miller still thought it fitting to attack pro-life state laws.
As he claimed that he was speaking from "a conservative perspective," Allred even went with the line that that's "how authoritarian states operate." Miller, who was all too happy to join in on criticizing pro-lifers and pro-life state laws, had even more choice language, as he claimed "the law is f*ked," something Allred agreed with a "that's right," as Miller went on to add "it's an authoritarian, backwards law."
— Students for Life Action (@SFLAction) September 10, 2024
Former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) ) also spoke at the event last Friday, where she endorsed Allred in his race. Although Texas is a target race for Democrats, the seat is regarded as a "Lean" or "Likely Republican" one and Republicans are largely expected to gain control of the chamber.
Cruz also leads Allred in the polls by +6, according to averages from RealClearPolling. Another recent poll, from the Texas Policy Project/YouGov showed Cruz leading Allred by 44-36 percent among registered voters in Texas. That poll was conducted August 23-31 with 1,200 registered voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percent.