This past Saturday, at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa, Texas Senator Ted Cruz firmly spoke out against Planned Parenthood, over recent allegations that the organization profits from the sale of tissue taken from aborted fetuses:

The video that surfaced in the past week…was gruesome and disgusting, and every American should watch that video and simply say: ‘Are those my values?’

Cruz continued:

The U.S. Department of Justice should open an investigation and prosecute Planned Parenthood. Local prosecutors should investigate Planned Parenthood affiliates in their jurisdictions, and Congress should hold hearings, and we should cut off every penny of taxpayer funds.

When asked about the recent Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, Cruz responded:

The Supreme Court’s decision on marriage was naked judicial activism, lawless, and fundamentally illegitimate. It was sad to see…more than a few 2016 candidates publicly saying, ‘it’s the law of the land, settled, surrender and move on. There is something profoundly wrong when Republicans running for President are reading from Barack Obama’s talking points. I have been proud to defend traditional marriage my entire life.

Turning to religious liberty, Cruz affirmed his view that the 2016 election will be a key event in the fight for religious liberty:

Next up in the crosshairs is religious liberty. I’ve spent three decades fighting to defend religious liberty. I will never shy away from defending the religious liberty of every American.

Like many other conservatives, however, Ted Cruz is defending religious liberty in principle, but not saying what he would do that would make a difference.

Nick Leaver works for American Principles in Action.