Power

Carly Fiorina Launches Discredited Planned Parenthood Attacks on ‘The View’

Appearing on ABC’s morning talk show on Friday as part of an ongoing feud between the Republican presidential candidate and the co-hosts, Fiorina attempted to defend herself against charges that her platform does not back up her claims that she is a feminist who wants any woman to be able to “live the life she chooses.”

Appearing on ABC’s morning talk show on Friday as part of an ongoing feud between the Republican presidential candidate and the co-hosts, Fiorina attempted to defend herself against charges that her platform does not back up her claims that she is a feminist who wants any woman to be able to “live the life she chooses.” Andrew Cline / Shutterstock.com

See more of our coverage on the effects of the misleading Center for Medical Progress videos here.

Carly Fiorina took to The View to push falsehoods about Planned Parenthood and reproductive health, falsely accusing the organization of “harvesting baby parts.”

Appearing on ABC’s morning talk show on Friday as part of an ongoing feud between the Republican presidential candidate and the co-hosts, Fiorina attempted to defend herself against charges that her platform does not back up her claims that she is a feminist who wants any woman to be able to live “the life she chooses.”

Host Joy Behar challenged Fiorina’s feminist credentials, pointing to her policy positions “against programs that let women make choices for their lives” such as mandated maternity leave and raising the minimum wage, as well as the candidate’s stance that Roe v. Wade be overturned. Fiorina responded by dismissing the critique as “the litany of the left—that the only way you can be pro-woman is to agree with the left’s prescriptions for women.”

“Here’s the problem though,” Fiorina continued, “the prescriptions that you laid out aren’t helping women.”

Reaching back to the heavily edited videos released by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), an anti-choice front group that has worked closely with GOP legislators, Fiorina cited Planned Parenthood as an example to combat Behar’s point, saying “the majority of Americans are horrified by the reality that we’re harvesting baby parts through late-term abortions” and suggesting it was “interesting” that the reproductive health-care provider had ceased accepting reimbursements for fetal tissue donations.

Behar and Whoopi Goldberg fired back, pointing out that Fiorina’s statement wasn’t true. “Carly, you know no one’s harvesting baby parts,” Goldberg explained.

Fiorina has consistently faced criticism for using CMP’s manipulated videos to advocate against Planned Parenthood. Despite the videos having been widely discredited, the Republican presidential hopeful continues to exploit them as part of her anti-choice platform.

Fiorina later offered “community health centers” and “pregnancy centers” as viable alternatives to Planned Parenthood, demanding to know why taxpayers aren’t funding them instead.

Numerous scholars and health organizations have noted that community health clinics would not be able to bridge the gap in care should Planned Parenthood lose federal funding and close its doors. “In 103 counties with a Planned Parenthood health center (21% of counties with a Planned Parenthood site), Planned Parenthood serves all of the women obtaining publicly supported contraceptive services from a safety net health center,” according to analysis from the Guttmacher Institute.

The crisis pregnancy centers Fiorina referred to are known for misleading patients and lying about their services, the law, and health care in order to persuade pregnant people not to choose abortion. Fiorina has championed these anti-choice centers, visiting one as part of a September campaign stop.