Hope Chapel members pray before the congregation's first service since the death of one of their elders, Garrett Swasey, in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Sunday. Swasey, a 44-year-old police officer at the University of Colorado, was killed during Friday's shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Hope Chapel members pray before the congregation's first service since the death of one of their elders, Garrett Swasey, in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Sunday. Swasey, a 44-year-old police officer at the University of Colorado, was killed during Friday's shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Planned Parenthood: Long a lightning rod in US culture wars

NEW YORK — As a leading defender of abortion rights and comprehensive sex education, Planned Parenthood deals daily with some of America’s most contentious issues, and is well accustomed to receiving verbal threats.

Some of the organization’s supporters say Friday’s deadly shooting at its clinic in Colorado Springs shows that the vitriolic rhetoric could be inspiring actual violence.

“It is time to stop the demonizing and witch hunts against Planned Parenthood, its staff and patients,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat.

But critics show no signs of backing away from a multi-pronged offensive against Planned Parenthood, keeping protests and a congressional investigation on their agenda for the coming year.

The man arrested in the attack that killed a police officer and two civilians uttered the phrase “no more baby parts,” a law enforcement official said.

Authorities have not elaborated on the gunman’s possible motives, but Planned Parenthood said witnesses described him as an abortion opponent. The “body parts” phrase echoed rhetoric that surfaced last summer, when anti-abortion activists began releasing undercover videos they said showed Planned Parenthood personnel negotiating the sale of fetal organs.

The anti-abortion group that made the videos, the Center for Medical Progress, condemned the “barbaric killing spree in Colorado Springs by a violent madman.”

Planned Parenthood said any payments were legally permitted reimbursements for the costs of donating organs to researchers, and has since stopped accepting even that money. Though the videos have inspired multiple investigations in Congress and in several states, none has confirmed any law breaking by Planned Parenthood.

Since the videos surfaced, threats have become even more frequent, abortion-rights leaders say.

“We’ve seen an alarming increase in hateful rhetoric and smear campaigns against abortion providers and patients over the last few months,” said Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. “That environment breeds acts of violence.”

Security at Planned Parenthood facilities nationwide has been tightened as a result, said the organization’s spokesman, Eric Ferrero.

There have been eight murders and more than 220 bombings and arson attacks at abortion facilities in the U.S. since 1977, according to the National Abortion Foundation. Two Planned Parenthood receptionists were killed in 1994 at clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Planned Parenthood has remained in the news since the videos were made public, with most Democratic politicians supporting the organization and many Republican leaders assailing it. Republicans have sought to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood, and several GOP-governed states have tried to block Medicaid funding to the organization.

All the Republican presidential candidates say they favor restricting abortion rights. Some were asked about the Colorado Springs shootings on Sunday’s talk shows.

Mike Huckabee condemned the attack as a “despicable act of murder” and said “what he did is domestic terrorism,” but then equated the killings to the abortions Planned Parenthood provides.

“There’s no excuse for killing other people, whether it’s happening inside the Planned Parent headquarters, inside their clinics, where many millions of babies die, or whether it’s people attacking Planned Parenthood,” Huckabee said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

On “Fox News Sunday,” Carly Fiorina also took the opportunity to criticize.

“The vast majority of Americans agree, what Planned Parenthood is doing is wrong,” she said. “So what I would say to anyone who tries to link this terrible tragedy to anyone who opposes abortion or opposes the sale of body parts is, this is typical left-wing tactics.”

Such comments are “unconscionable,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood.

“It’s not enough to denounce the tragedy without also denouncing the poisonous rhetoric that fueled it,” Laguens said. “Instead, some politicians are continuing to stoke it.”

Planned Parenthood also gets criticism for its advocacy for teens seeking contraception and candid information about sexuality, but its role as the nation’s leading abortion provider is what makes it such a target.

Its president, Cecile Richards, endured hours of hostile questioning from GOP members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in September, and the GOP-controlled House then voted to form a new investigative panel to probe its abortion and fetal-tissue policies.

“This is about getting answers to questions about how we treat and protect life in this country,” Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican chairing the panel, said last month. “The allegations raised in these disturbing and abhorrent videos have led us to ask: What have we come to in this country?”

Some Planned Parenthood supporters called on House Speaker Paul Ryan to disband the investigative panel in the aftermath of the shooting, but there was no indication that would happen.

Nor was there any move to call off protests against Planned Parenthood planned for Jan. 21, two days before the annual anti-abortion March for Life. The Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life, said the shootings should not be used to “inflame emotions” and said the protests would proceed as scheduled, to “hold Planned Parenthood accountable for their immoral and illegal actions.”

More in News

(Juneau Empire File)
Aurora forecast for the week of Nov. 27

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire File
Even the Grinch got into the holiday spirit at last year’s Gallery Walk on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022.
An abundance of traditional and new ways to capitalize on this year’s Gallery Walk

More than 50 events scheduled Friday afternoon and evening from downtown to Douglas.

This view is from Wrangell on Sept. 11, 2022. (Photo by Joaqlin Estus/ICT)
Conservation group supports formation of new Alaska Native corporations

The conservation group the Wilderness Society has changed its position and now… Continue reading

From her hospital bed on Friday, Nov. 24, Christina Florschutz demonstrates how she pulled pajama bottoms that she found in the landslide debris over her legs, arms and head to keep warm. Her house was destroyed in the landslide, and after spending the night in the wreckage, she was rescued the morning of Tuesday, Nov. 21. (Caroleine James / Wrangell Sentinel)
Elementary school aide who survived Wrangell landslide calls circumstances a miracle

Christina Florschutz trapped overnight by landslide that killed at least 4 people, with 2 missing.

Lylah Habeger (left) and Jaila Ramirez lead the Konfeta Corps during a rehearsal of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” at Juneau Dance Theatre. The ballet will be performed in the Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.At.Kalé auditorium Friday through Sunday. (Photo courtesy of Juneau Dance Theatre)
‘Nutcracker’ tradition, with a twirl of new choreography

This year’s performances feature a cast of 93, ages 5 to 78

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Police calls for Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Police calls for Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Rain at the National Weather Service Juneau station on Nov. 11 doesn’t exist as snow until hits the upper portion of nearby Thunder Mountain. So far this November has been both warmer and wetter than normal. (Photo by National Weather Service Juneau)
El Niño playing outsize role in Juneau’s warmer temperatures, according to National Weather Service

Early peek at numbers shows Juneau is 4.9 degrees warmer than average this November.

An emergency rescue vehicle parks in front of the Riverview Senior Living center at midday Monday after resident Nathan Bishop, 58, was discovered in the attic about 40 hours after he was reported missing. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Nathan Bishop found alive in attic of Riverview Senior Living complex after 40-hour search

Family members say they remain supportive of facility’s locally available assisted living services.

Most Read