In this week’s CNN debate at the Reagan Library, former Hewlitt-Packard CEO and breast cancer survivor, Carly Fiorina, didn’t mince words about the self-proclaimed “women’s health” organization, Planned Parenthood. At Slate, Amanda Marcotte called Fiorina’s statement “grisly,” and news outlets have been mystified by the details of baby body part harvesting Fiorina referenced, insisting they can’t find such material in the investigative videos.
Some skepticism is fair, because what Fiorina said is not the exact visual you will see in the videos. Yet complete denials are disingenuous because the scene Fiorina described also isn’t fictitious. Eyewitness and expert testimony featured confirms that organs and body parts have been procured from still-living babies on tables at Planned Parenthood abortion clinics – just as Fiorina said.
George Stephanopoulos asked Fiorina if she misspoke, to which she replied, “No, I didn’t misspeak and I don’t know who you’re speaking about in terms of watching the tapes, but I have seen those images.”
The revelations Fiorina refers to are found in the third episode of the Center for Medical Progress’ documentary “Human Capital,” released on August 19th, 2015. The documentary features whistleblower Holly O’Donnell, who divulges her gruesome experiences inside Planned Parenthood abortion clinics. In the documentary, the executive director from Novogenix Laboratories – a company that buys baby body parts – states that “there are times when after the procedure [abortion] is done that the heart is still beating.”
The reason why some babies are alive when their organs are harvested is that, in these cases, abortionists avoid using toxins or completely tearing the child limb from torso in utero. This is the only way for the maximum amount of organs and body parts to remain marketable. (Hence why Fiorina correctly described, “Watch a fully formed fetus, on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says, ‘We have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.'”)
At 5:58 in the video, you can see footage (courtesy of the Grantham Collection & Center for Bio-Ethical Reform) of an aborted baby squirming in a dish, much like the baby whose face O’Donnell cut open to harvest brain at Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinic in San Jose, CA.
The Federalist took on media outlets that are attempting to discredit Fiorina for her statement:
While it is obviously not the same baby as the one she harvested the brain of, the footage helps viewers to understand what a 19-week old baby looks like when hearing the testimony of an ex-employee who harvested brains from babies of the same age. Illustrating stories with appropriate images is a common journalistic technique, one used by all media outlets.
And, in fact, the baby in that footage was himself aborted but born-alive – just like the baby O’Donnell described. Gregg Cunningham, executive director of The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, who provided the footage to CMP, spoke to The Federalist:
The video clip we provided to CMP depicted an intact delivery abortion. It was filmed at an abortion clinic. It was not a miscarriage. Mothers don’t go to abortion clinics to miscarry. Had this case been a miscarriage, the mother would have presented at a hospital and her baby would have been rushed to an Isolette for appropriate neonatal care — not abandoned to writhe and eventually expire in a cold, stainless steel specimen vessel. As regards the organizational affiliation of the abortion facility in which this termination was performed, our access agreements forbid the disclosure of any information which might tend to identify the relevant clinics or personnel with whom we work. Preserving confidentiality is vital to future clinic access. I can, however, assure you that the footage in question is not anomalous. It is representative of the frequent outcomes of many late term intact delivery terminations performed at clinics of all organizational affiliations.
The facts demonstrate that what Fiorina described is exactly what happens in abortion clinics throughout the United States.
The baby Fiorina referenced, from the CMP video.
Below is the transcript of the pro-life Fiorina taking on Iran and Planned Parenthood in the same breath.
I would like to link these two issues, both of which are incredibly important: Iran and Planned Parenthood. One has something to do with the defense of the security of this nation. The other has something to do with the defense of the character of this nation. …
As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this video tape – I dare Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama – to watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus, on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking, while someone says ‘we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain.’ This is about the character of our nation, and if we will not stand up [APPLAUSE BEGINS] and force President Obama to veto this bill, shame on us.
