Carly Fiorina Described Gruesome, Non-Existent Scenes And Dialogue From Deceptively-Edited Videos Targeting Planned Parenthood

Carly Fiorina: “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.” During CNN's September 16 Republican presidential debate, Carly Fiorina dared Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama to watch a series of deceptively-edited videos put out by the anti-choice Center for Medical Progress (CMP) purporting to show illegal organ harvesting and other activities performed by Planned Parenthood staff members. From The Washington Post's debate transcript (emphasis added):

FIORINA: As regards Planned Parenthood, anyone who has watched this videotape, 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. [The Washington Post, 9/16/15]

Washington Post Columnist Understates Complete Falsity Of Fiorina's Statements

Kathleen Parker: “The Image [Fiorina] Described Exists, Apparently, But It Wasn't From Any Of Planned Parenthood's Facilities.” In a December 1 column for The Washington Post, Kathleen Parker miscategorized the misleading footage inserted into videos targeting Planned Parenthood by the anti-choice group CMP, stating only that the videos in question were “controversial” while ignoring that they, and Fiorina's interpretation of their contents, have been completely discredited. The deceptively-edited footage is not from a Planned Parenthood facility and has no known connection to any abortion procedures. Parker also failed to mention Fiorina's inaccurate statements about alleged dialogue that does not exist in the anti-Planned Parenthood videos (emphasis added):

While responsible writers and commentators have avoided making a cause-and-effect argument, a consensus has congealed around the idea that though the rhetoric didn't cause the action, it contributed to it, probably. Dear, in other words, either watched, read or heard about the videos in question, perhaps from Republican presidential candidates and, being deranged, simply went ballistic. Unforgettable was the description Carly Fiorina offered during a debate of a live fetus that, one might infer, was subsequently murdered for its innards.

The image she described exists, apparently, but it wasn't from any of Planned Parenthood's facilities.

The videos in question are certainly controversial and accomplished what they were intended to do -- make vividly real the sometimes brutal reality of abortion, though the vast majority of abortions are first-term. This is no consolation to people who morally object to terminating a pregnancy at any point in gestation, as we know from 40 years of divisive debate. To people who oppose abortion, exposing the casual harvesting of body parts was simply another layer of banality attached to the already horrific. [The Washington Post, 12/1/15]

Multiple Media Outlets Debunked Fiorina's Statements About What She Claims Could Be Seen In Videos

Multiple Media Outlets: Fiorina Is “Wrong” And The Scene She Described “Does Not Exist.” Multiple media outlets reported that Fiorina's claim about the scenes and dialogue she described was “wrong,” “mostly false,” and “does not exist in any of the videos” released by CMP. Vox reporter Sarah Kliff explained that one of the CMP videos “has stock footage of a fetus kicking on a table -- though that footage isn't from inside a Planned Parenthood.” PolitiFact rated Fiorina's claim as “Mostly False,” noting that the graphic images Fiorina alluded to were “added to the video to dramatize its content” and may not actually depict an abortion (emphasis added):

[T]he video cuts to a fetus outside the womb, placed on what appears to be some sort of examination surface, and the fetus' legs are moving. The Center for Medical Progress says the source of the footage is the Grantham Collection, an organization that hopes to stem abortion by promoting graphic images of the procedure. We don't know the circumstances behind this video: where it came from, under what conditions it was obtained, or even if this fetus was actually aborted (as opposed to a premature birth or miscarriage).

[...]

The video's creators added footage of an aborted fetus on what appears to be an examination table, and its legs are moving. But Fiorina makes it sound as if the footage shows what Planned Parenthood is alleged to have done. In fact, the stock footage was added to the video to dramatize its content. We rate her statement Mostly False. [Media Matters, 9/17/15]

Experts Say Unsourced Footage Used In Planned Parenthood Smear Video Is Most Likely From A Premature Delivery

Several Experts Say Footage Inserted Into Video Smearing Planned Parenthood Is Mostly Likely From A Premature Delivery, Not Abortion. While an anti-choice activist, who was the source of the video, declined to identify the “date, location or authors” of the video itself, medical experts who examined the footage said that it more likely shows a premature delivery or miscarriage and not an aborted fetus. Dr. Jen Gunter, a certified OB/GYN and medical blogger, explained in a series of posts that one of the videos Fiorina cited in support of her false statements was likely “at least 15 years old or from another country” and clearly depicted “a previable premature delivery” procedure. [Media Matters, 10/1/15; Dr. Jen Gunter, 9/29/15; 9/30/15]