The Texas senator alleged Rubio did not want to use Congress’s “constitutional authority to defund Planned Parenthood,” a charge that overlooked Rubio’s support for tying an attack on the group with government funding.

“That’s a mistake. So he and I disagree on that,” Cruz said here at Bob Jones University, a Protestant university. “We could have defunded Planned Parenthood in the wake of those videos but too many Republicans in Washington, especially leadership, were afraid to stand and fight.”

Cruz has cast himself as the one remaining presidential candidate that has been willing to thwart the GOP’s Washington leadership, and his attack is a serious charge in South Carolina considering the evangelical GOP voting base here. The National Right to Life, one of the chief arbiters of social issues in GOP politics, quickly stepped in to back Rubio and called Cruz’s Friday remarks “inaccurate and misleading.”

“Marco Rubio voted to defund Planned Parenthood before Ted Cruz ever got to the U.S. Senate. Since Ted Cruz joined the U.S. Senate, both he and Sen. Rubio have voted the same on every roll call that National Right to Life regards as pertinent to defunding Planned Parenthood,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.