Ted Cruz isn’t just wrong about an NC abortion protest and COVID-19 rules. He’s shameless

Charlotte abortion protesters David and Jason Benham got a surprise surge of publicity this weekend, thanks to a U.S. Senator who selfishly decided that a moment of political opportunity was more important than a message of public health.

The Benham brothers were among a group of 50 abortion clinic protesters that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police attempted to disperse Saturday because they were in violation of COVID-19 restrictions. Eight members were arrested when they declined multiple orders to leave the gathering outside A Preferred Women’s Health Center on Latrobe Drive, according to police.

The arrests weren’t the first for Love Life, the Charlotte-based group that opposes abortion. On March 25, four members were arrested in Greensboro for similarly violating coronavirus restrictions of that city and Guilford County.

This time, however, a U.S. senator took notice.

“This is an unconstitutional arrest,” tweeted Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas who was runner-up for the Republican presidential nomination in the 2016 election. “@BenhamBrothers exercising core First Amendment rights. PEACEFULLY. In a way fully consistent w/ public safety. Because elected Dems are pro-abortion, they are abusing their power—in a one-sided way—to silence pregnancy counselors.”

Apparently, Cruz couldn’t be bothered to do a little homework before popping off his outrage Tweet. Had he done so, he might’ve learned that the Love Life members were in fact violating COVID-19 orders, including Mecklenburg’s very specific restrictions on non-essential travel and activities. Abortion protests – or “public counseling” of this kind – are not among the activities currently allowed in Charlotte.

Let’s be clear: We respect that Love Life and the Benhams believe that abortion should be outlawed and that they believe women who visit clinics should be warned against what they’re about to do. So long as those protesters make their case without violating ordinances and laws, their speech is ordinarily considered protected. Just not right now in Charlotte.

Constitutional freedoms, including speech, are not absolute. They’re weighted against public health and safety considerations, and courts have long had no problem with restrictions like those in North Carolina and other states so long as they are applied and enforced evenly and are justified by the public interest. Last month, a New Hampshire court ruled that a coronavirus-related ban on gatherings was a permissible restriction on free assembly.

Cruz, who graduated from Harvard Law School, should know this. It’s pretty likely he does know this. His support of the abortion protesters was a political pantomime, not a serious legal opinion. It was a cheap play for fist pumps, but it comes with a cost. By declaring that people can violate public health restrictions if they feel strongly about something, Cruz dilutes those orders in Charlotte and everywhere else.

As our country enters perhaps its most trying week with COVID-19, our leaders should be delivering the opposite message. They should be telling Americans that other than essential activities, you need to stay at home. Even when you don’t want to. Even when it’s inconvenient, Even if you think you have something important to do or say.

Contrary messages only encourage those who believe - despite case counts and death tolls rising - that the COVID-19 crisis is overblown or that no one will be hurt by their individual flouting of public health guidelines. They’re wrong. The Charlotte protesters, by ignoring what’s best for themselves and others, were wrong. Ted Cruz, by giving their protest his Senate stamp of approval, was dangerously and shamelessly wrong. He should correct himself now.

This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 4:30 AM with the headline "Ted Cruz isn’t just wrong about an NC abortion protest and COVID-19 rules. He’s shameless."