On Friday afternoon, National Organization for Women (NOW) President Terry O’Neill took to the airwaves of MSNBC Live and instead of praising Carly Fiorina’s debate performance or her response to Donald Trump’s comments about her looks, O’Neill callously tore into Fiorina’s opposition to Planned Parenthood and declared that she “supports policies that kill women.”
When asked by host Jonathan Capehart for her thoughts on Fiorina’s pro-life stance in Wednesday night’s debate, O’Neill remarked that her pro-life positions are why she “does not get the women’s vote” from “women across the country and across the political and ideological spectrum” that “love Planned Parenthood.”
Playing her usual role of Planned Parenthood defender, O’Neill touted these same women love the abortion provider “because it provides family planning services to millions of women, including enormous numbers of, yes, middle class, younger women, in high school and in college who are not in a place where they can have that conversation with their mom and dad.”
Neglecting to take into considerations women such as Holly Patterson, Lakisha Wilson, or Karnamaya Mongar who died while receiving abortions, O’Neill gushed that Planned Parenthood gives mothers assurance “that they'll be cared for safely” considering all the “medical excellence at Planned Parenthood” (though conditions uncovered at a Delaware Planned Parenthood would seem to contradict that)
O’Neill then pivoted back to Fiorina, chiding the only Republican woman in the presidential field for “support[ing] policies that would shut down the family planning services that Planned Parenthood provides.”
The NOW President argued that, in doing so, Fiorina actually “is promoting policies that increase infant mortality, promoting policies that increase maternal mortality and women won't vote for someone who supports policies that kill women, it's pretty simple.”
When given another softball question by Capehart a few moments later about how women view the Republican Party, O’Neill broadly asserted that “the attack on Planned Parenthood is an attack on funding for family planning services, so now, all of the Republicans running for president, from Carly Fiorina to Donald Trump, on down, they all want to stop women from having access to birth control.”
By O’Neill’s definition, standing for the lives of the unborn translates into being a negative for Fiorina and the rest of the GOP:
That means they lose the millennial vote for both men and women millennials, they lose the women vote for decades to come and let me say, that's not good for women advocates. We want Republicans to have a fair shot at getting women's votes because we want there to be real competition between Republicans and Democrats for the women's vote and unfortunately, where we are right now is that the Republicans are making themselves into a party that women absolutely cannot in good conscience vote for.
As an organization that claims to stand for women when they’re attacked in the public square, it’s worth noting that NOW neglected to show the same fervor that they do for Planned Parenthood when it came to Jenna Lee and Sandra Smith of Fox News being mocked by TBS comedian Conan O’Brien on Monday night as being possible porn stars in a fake book called Fox News Anchor or Porn Star.
The relevant portions of the transcript from the 5:00 p.m. Eastern hour of MSNBC Live on September 18 can be found below.
MSNBC Live
September 18, 2015
5:18 p.m. Eastern
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Carly Fiorina didn't just go after her Republican rivals during Wednesday's debate. She was also critical of her potential democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Fiorina took the focus off her business record to critique Clinton's accomplishments during her time as secretary of state.
CARLY FIORINA: Mrs. Clinton is going to have to defend her track record. Her track record of lying about her e-mails, lying about Benghazi, about lying about her servers. She doesn't have a track record of accomplishments. [SCREEN WIPE] If you want to stump a Democrat, ask them to name an accomplishment of Hillary Clinton's.
(....)
CAPEHART: Clinton supporters are having no trouble responding to Fiorina's challenge. Politico collected responses from 20 top Democrats from strategists to Clinton’s former colleagues. They've cited diplomatic victories from her time as secretary of state and her impact on negotiations with Iran, along with her hand in creating the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and focus on women's rights. Women's healthcare has been a major topic on the campaign trail. Carly Fiorina was just one of the candidates passionate about ending the government's funding of Planned Parenthood at all costs.
(....)
CAPEHART: Terry, what do you make the Carly Fiorina's statement on Planned Parenthood?
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN PRESIDENT TERRY O’NEILL: Well, I think that's exactly why Carly Fiorina does not get the women's vote. I mean, look, women across the country and across the political and ideological spectrum love Planned Parenthood because it provides family planning services to millions of women, including enormous numbers of, yes, middle class, younger women, in high school and in college who are not in a place where they can have that conversation with their mom and dad and they go to Planned Parenthood because their mothers know that they'll be cared for safely and with medical excellence at Planned Parenthood. So, when Carly Fiorina supports policies that would shut down the family planning services that Planned Parenthood provides, what she's actually doing is promoting policies that increase infant mortality, promoting policies that increase maternal mortality and women won't vote for someone who supports policies that kill women. It's pretty simple.
(....)
CAPEHART: Terry, this is almost sort of like a jump ball question here. Has the Republican Party gotten better or worse when it comes to talking about women's issues?
O’NEILL: So, exactly, Jonathan. What they – after 2012, when it was clear that the Republican Party had a problem with women, and specifically a problem with women around rape because they had candidates in the Republican Party saying that, you know, a pregnancy from rape is a gift of God, Republicans have actually gone backwards from there. Now what they're saying is not only do they not want women to terminate pregnancies caused by rape or terminate unwanted or unplanned pregnancies, they don't want women getting birth control. To be clear, the attack on Planned Parenthood is an attack on funding for family planning services, so now, all of the Republicans running for president, from Carly Fiorina to Donald Trump, on down, they all want to stop women from having access to birth control. That means they lose the millennial vote for both men and women millennials, they lose the women vote for decades to come and let me say, that's not good for women advocates. We want Republicans to have a fair shot at getting women's votes because we want there to be real competition between Republicans and Democrats for the women's vote and unfortunately, where we are right now is that the Republicans are making themselves into a party that women absolutely cannot in good conscience vote for.
