What was supposed to be a simple preschool field trip to the Greater Des Moines botanical garden apparently ended with students sitting beneath a massive photo of a fetus at Carly Fiorina's anti-abortion rally. The Guardian reports that parents are accusing the Republican presidential candidate of "ambushing" their children during their field trip and forcing them to participate in a "right to life" forum:
Entering the rally, before a crowd of about 60 people, [Fiorina] directed around 15 young children towards a makeshift stage.The problem, one parent said, was that the children’s parents had not given Fiorina permission to have their children sit with her — in front of a huge banner bearing the image of an unborn fetus — while she talked about harvesting organs from aborted babies. [The Guardian]
"Taking them into a pro-life/abortion discussion [was] very poor taste and judgment," one parent told The Guardian, adding that "the kids went there to see the plants." "I would not want my 4-year-old going to that forum — he can't fully comprehend that stuff. He likes dinosaurs, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Transformers."
When The Guardian asked the former Hewlett-Packard CEO's campaign for comment, a spokeswoman was ambiguous: "We were happy that these children chose to come to Carly's event with their adult supervisor," a Fiorina spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
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Read the full story over at The Guardian.
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