Two vigils will be held Saturday to mourn the victims of a shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood Friday that left three people dead and nine injured. One vigil will take place at 11:30 a.m. at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, and the other at 7 p.m. on the local University of Colorado campus.
One of the victims was Garrett Swasey, 44, a University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer. Authorities have yet to name the other two. Five officers and four civilians were also hospitalized following the attack and are reportedly in good condition.
Police identified the shooter as Robert Lewis Dear, 57, and they are currently investigating his motives for the shooting:
Authorities say Dear was armed with a long gun and also brought into the building several “items” that could have been explosive devices.
“We don’t have any information on this individual’s mentality, or his ideas or ideology,” Colorado Springs Police Lt. Catherine Buckley told reporters, according to the Associated Press.
But Planned Parenthood officials issued a statement while the attack on the clinic was still going on that spoke to the heart of the matter:
“We don’t yet know the full circumstances and motives behind this criminal action, and we don’t yet know if Planned Parenthood was in fact the target of this attack,” Vicki Cowart, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said in a written statement. “We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country. We will never back away from providing care in a safe, supportive environment that millions of people rely on and trust.”
Planned Parenthood and other clinics that offer abortions have been the targets of continued harassment and threats since abortion became legal nationwide in the '70s. But a new wave of venom has been aimed at Planned Parenthood since July when antiabortion activists released secretly filmed and heavily edited videos claiming that Planned Parenthood was selling fetal tissue to researchers for a profit (only, they weren’t):
Abortion rights groups say threats against abortion providers rose sharply this summer in the wake of the undercover “sting” operation that produced the controversial videos.
At least four Planned Parenthood clinics have been targeted with arson since the videos were released. The increase in threats has led abortion rights groups to increase cooperation with local police and the FBI.
In a Twitter message released Friday by Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain, a clinic spokesman said 28 other regional health centers will remain open “no matter what.”
“We maintain strong security measures and always work closely with law enforcement agencies to ensure our very strong safety record,” the statement said.
As Meteor Blades pointed out, the media and politicians are still not calling this sustained campaign against abortion and reproductive rights for what it is: terrorism. Here’s the definition of terrorism:
1. the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce,especially for political purposes.
