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 Matt A.J., CC

INDIANAPOLIS, April 28, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – The nation's leading pro-life political organization has hailed Senator Ted Cruz's decision to select Carly Fiorina as his running mate, while the nation's largest abortion provider and an abortion-on-demand PAC say Fiorina will give them “nightmares.”

“Carly Fiorina has been a strong advocate for life and, with Sen. Cruz, creates a powerful pro-life team to lead the United States,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee. “Carly has long been an advocate of pro-life legislative efforts to protect innocent human life – unborn children and medically disabled or dependent persons whose lives are threatened by abortion or euthanasia.”

NRTL endorsed Fiorina in 2010, when the former Fortune 50 CEO unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer for the U.S. Senate seat in California.

Tobias said that no one should question the pro-life convictions of either half of the ticket.

“Both Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina are sincere in their respect for the sanctity of human life,” said Tobias. “Together, Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina are committed to helping mothers and their unborn children, and we look forward to working with them on those efforts.”

Planned Parenthood greeted the announcement, made in Indianapolis just days before the Indiana primary, by calling a Cruz-Fiorina pairing “loathsome.”

An official spokeswoman built on that later in the day.

“A Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina ticket should give women in this country nightmares,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, saying they “both want to criminalize abortion” and threatened to shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood.

“Their agenda is so unpopular that both Cruz and Fiorina resort to blatant, inflammatory lies to legitimize their extreme beliefs,” she said.

Meanwhile EMILY’s List, which steers political money to women who support unrestricted abortion-on-demand, repeated the claim that Fiorina lied about the contents of an undercover Planned Parenthood video. “Carly Fiorina left the race in a disgrace being caught completely inventing a horrific story to smear Planned Parenthood – and she still hasn’t apologized or retracted it,” said the PAC's president, Stephanie Schriock, who has considered running for elected office herself.

During a Republican primary debate last September, Fiorina challenged Hillary Clinton to view the undercover Planned Parenthood videos and “watch a fully formed fetus on the table, it's heart beating, it's legs kicking.”

Some claimed that the child seen in the stock footage used to illustrate that video had not been aborted but instead miscarried. However, a pro-life group later released the complete footage of the abortion, and the child kicking afterwards.

Pro-family leaders, on the other hand, say the move was politically inspired by allowing Cruz – who, like Trump, struggles to connect with female voters – to show he is not afraid to work alongside a successful woman.

“Women make up 51 percent of the population,” said Penny Nance, president of the Concerned Women Political Action Committee. “I want to inspire real women to take a stand, speak up, and effect real change.”

“Mitt Romney lost women by 20 points in 2012, Republicans cannot afford to do that again,” she added. “Carly Fiorina will help restore the GOP’s standing with women.”

It also further contrasts Cruz with frontrunner Donald Trump, who has said that, while he would defund Planned Parenthood if it performs abortions, the abortion provider does some “wonderful” things.

“Trump is dead wrong on the Planned Parenthood thing,” Rush Limbaugh said on his radio program on Wednesday, chalking up Trump's support for the organization to “geography and conditioning.”

“In New York City, Planned Parenthood may as well be the Catholic Church,” he said.

On Thursday, he added that, while Trump has a commanding lead in delegates, the race is not yet over. While Cruz cannot gain 1,237 delegates to win on the first ballot, Limbaugh thinks that he may be able to prevent Trump from doing so, as well, opening up the delegates to vote from Cruz on subsequent ballots.

Naming Fiorina as his running mate more than two months ahead of the convention may just prove to be the electoral strategy that wins Cruz the nomination, according to conservative thinker Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer.

“Is it a Hail Mary pass? Sure it is, of course it is,” Shirley said. “But, you know what, it’s the fourth quarter. And when you’re down by two or three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, you have to start throwing the ball long.”

“Sometimes it works,” he said.