Democrat Kristian Carranza (left) is running against Republican incumbent John Lujan (right) to represent Texas House District 118. Credit: Courtesy Photo / Kristian Carranza (left) and Facebook / Texas Rep. John Lujan (right)

State Rep. John Lujan on Tuesday appeared to double down on a controversial earlier statement in which he said that if he had a daughter, he wouldn’t let her get an abortion if she was raped.

The Republican incumbent for Texas House District 118 grabbed headlines earlier this month when discussing his position on abortion during a Texas Public Radio candidate forum.

“As a Christian man, I’m very pro-life,” Lujan said during the TPR appearance. “But man, I struggled with the rape and incest because, you know, I think if it was my daughter — I don’t have any daughters — but if I had a daughter, and that would have been, you know, if it would have been a rape, I think we, as a personally, I would say, ‘No, we’re going to have the baby.’”

Lujan had a chance to clarify what he meant during a Tuesday candidate debate moderated by San Antonio Report political writer Andrea Drusch.

Lujan explained that, if reelected, he would work to add abortion exceptions for rape and incest to state law. However, he stuck by his earlier statement that he’d want his theoretical daughter to carry a baby to birth, even if she’d been raped.

“In that interview what I wanted to say, if I did have a daughter that was raped, I would encourage her to choose life,” Lujan said.

Lujan’s comments didn’t appear to sit well with women in the crowd, some of whom heckled the Republican after he cut off Democratic challenger Kristian Carranza during her remarks on the topic.

“He made these remarks, and I think more than ever, it is so important that we are electing people to the state House who really understand women’s healthcare,” Carranza said after being interrupted by Lujan. “I’m not going to create hypothetical examples about what women go through because I am a woman.”

Carranza added that “more than 26,000 women in Texas have had to carry their rapist’s babies” since the state enacted its abortion ban. Texas’ prohibition of the medical procedure came after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

“That’s unacceptable,” Carranza said.

The debate between Lujan and Carranza comes as the campaign for the highly competitive House District 118 enters its home stretch. Political analysts consider the race for the district, which includes swaths of South and East San Antonio, to be among the state’s most competitive.

Lujan is considered vulnerable since he won the redrawn blue-leaning district by just 2.5% during a 2021 special election to replace Democrat Leo Pacheco, who resigned after taking a job at San Antonio College. Lujan kept his seat by a 3.8% margin during the 2022 midterms.

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This article appears in Sep 25 – Oct 15, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...