Businesswoman Carly Fiorina says it was "bad politics" that a controversial late-term abortion bill failed to come up for a vote in Congress this week, calling the measure something the "vast majority" of American women support.
In an interview with The Hill on the eve of the Iowa Freedom Summit, a conservative gathering at which the possible GOP presidential candidate will speak, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO argues the bill banning abortions after 20 weeks isn't as "extreme as Democrats want to cast it."
"The fact that this bill was pulled I find really disappointing," she told The Hill.
"It's bad policy and it's bad politics," she said, adding:
"I am on board with that bill and that ban and so are the vast majority of American people and the vast majority of women in this nation."
House Republicans were forced to cancel a vote on the bill after a number of female and moderate Republican members threatened to vote against it, in part over concerns it would have required women to report rapes to the police to qualify.
On her White House aspirations, Fiorina tells The Hill she has unique skills for the race.
"I bring a wholly different set of experiences," she says. "I'm not a professional politician, though I'm also not a political neophyte. I'm really going to talk about what I think our nation needs to do to restore its promise and leadership in the world, the importance of citizenship and citizen government and the importance of leadership."
The Hill reports strategists doubt she'll be competitive in a presidential run, though she might be the right fit for a vice president or Cabinet position
— yet Fiorina is touting a "different perspective" as a woman.
"Our party needs to be as diverse as the nation we represent," she tells The Hill. "A woman's voice matters in this conversation. Every issue is a woman's issue. We're half the nation. We're 53 percent of voters. I bring a different perspective."
She also says though she lost in 2010 against California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, she discovered she loved being on the stump.
"I always find my energy talking to people," she tells The Hill.