Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said on Monday he has no plans to restrict access to birth control and accused the Democratic Party of creating a phony Republican "war on women."
"The last I checked, we don't have a rubber shortage in America," he said while campaigning in Bettendorf, Iowa, according to the Texas Tribune.
When he was just a college student in Princeton University and Harvard Law School, Cruz said there was always easy access to condoms and he has no plans of changing it.
"Look, when I was in college, we had a machine in the bathroom. You'd put 50 cents in and voila!" he said. "So yes, anyone who wants contraceptives can access them, but it is an utterly made-up, nonsense issue."
Cruz suspects that Democrats such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are making up fabrications about Republicans wanting to ban contraceptives because they share opposing views on other issues important to women—such as abortion. Cruz added that Clinton probably highlighted the issue of birth control because she is unable to battle Republicans when it comes to economy, health care reform, and foreign policy.
"So what do you do?" Cruz asked. "You go, 'Aha! The condom police. I'm going to make up a completely made-up threat and try to scare a bunch of folks that are not paying a lot of attention into thinking someone's going to steal their birth control.'"
He then took potshots at his fellow Republicans for cowering in fear while Democrats openly criticise their stance on women's health. "When the war on women came up, Republicans would curl up in a ball," Cruz said. "They'd say, 'Don't hurt me!' Jiminy Cricket! This is a made-up, nonsense example."
For their part, the Democratic National Committee advised Cruz to "quit mansplaining women's health and listen to women who know how ridiculous his statements are."
"Ted Cruz was right about one thing tonight: Republicans are 'completely puzzled' when it comes to women's health care," Kaylie Hanson, the DNC's director of women's media, said in a statement. "His insistence that condoms are a substitute for the contraception many women need to prevent unintended pregnancies, and for other health reasons, shows he hasn't got a clue when it comes to women's health."
