Carly Fiorina Denies 'Ambushing' Preschoolers at Des Moines Pro-Life Rally
2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina denied the accusation that she "ambushed" a group of preschoolers who attended a pro-life rally at the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden on Wednesday.
Fiorina's political camp defended itself after one parent accused Fiorina of forcing a group of preschoolers to sit on stage with her as she spoke during the Iowa Right to Life Presidential Forum being held at the botanical garden. The preschoolers were visiting the gardens on a class field trip.
"In Des Moines yesterday, a group of preschoolers along with their parents and teachers followed Carly right into the event she was speaking at for Iowa Right to Life. Earlier, she'd run into the kids in the Botanical Gardens and watched the Koi with them for a while," Sarah Isgur Flores, a spokeswoman for the Fiorina campaign, told LifeNews in a statement. "I guess the kids must have thought she was pretty neat because then their teachers and parents and the kids all followed Carly into the event complete with Carly stickers."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Chris Beck, the parent of one of the children who attended the pro-life rally, told The Guardian that he was not asked permission to allow his four-year-old to attend the event, which featured a poster of a five-month old unborn fetus.
"The kids went there to see the plants," Beck told the media outlet, adding that he feels Fiorina "ambushed my son's field trip."
Beck was not present during the field trip, bur was told of the incident by his childcare provider.
"Taking them into a pro-life/abortion discussion [was] very poor taste and judgment," Beck added to The Guardian. "I would not want my four-year-old going to that forum — he can't fully comprehend that stuff. He likes dinosaurs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Transformers."
Fiorina has long been a vocal opponent of abortion and the Planned Parenthood abortion provider, especially after undercover videos surfaced last year showing Planned Parenthood executives discussing the costs associated with the procurement and donation of aborted fetal parts.
The candidate, who is polling at 2 percent according to a recent Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll, previously told Fox News that changes must be made regarding current abortion laws in the U.S.
"The vast majority of Americans agree, what Planned Parenthood is doing is wrong," Fiorina told "Fox News Sunday" in November 2015.
"That's why the vast majority of Americans are prepared not only to defund Planned Parenthood, but also to stop abortion for any reason at all after five months," the presidential candidate added.
