Carly Fiorina kicked up a lot of furor in the last Republican debate. Not only did she knock Donald Trump down a peg, she also raised the ire of women’s health advocates when she told a fairly large lie. Fiorina claimed that she had seen a fulled formed fetus on a table at a Planned Parenthood clinic with its legs kicking and heart beating while a employee attempted to keep it alive to harvest its brain.
Obviously, this was a flatly untrue – though no one on stage at the debate sought to debunk her claims – so supporters of Planned Parenthood and the important work it does have begun protesting at Ms. Fiorina’s events. Things came to a head when Carly Fiorina attended a tailgate at a University of Iowa football game. Women dressed in pink shirts crashed the party, chanting “I. O. W. A. Women’s rights are here to stay.” The protesters also did some work on Planned Parenthood’s behalf, promoting safe sex by handing out condoms. A more fervent attendee of the tailgate then chose to throw a packs of condoms at the presidential candidate.
Despite the efforts of these protesters, it is very unlikely that Fiorina will stop bashing Planned Parenthood or stop spreading mistruths. The issue is a hot-button topic among the most dedicated Republican voters and it serves as a good way for Ms. Fiorina to dredge up extra attention and extra votes. Indeed, despite being widely debunked by unbiased fact checkers, Ms. Fiorina has continued to repeat her false claims in interviews with George Stephanopoulos and Chris Wallace.
For this reason, one can expect more demonstrations at Carly Fiorina’s campaign events as supporters of Planned Parenthood attempt to spread the truth to combat the lies. A Planned Parenthood spokesperson has already said that the protest at the University of Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium will be the first of many among Fiorina’s campaign trail. At least, until the next flavor of the month in the GOP presidential race tops the polls.