In the aftermath of the shooting at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, CO the liberal narrative is that the Center for Medical Progress and the vidoes they released over the summer are complicit in the shooting, along with the pro-life community in general.
It was the videos! I wonder where we’ve heard that before, that sounds oddly familiar.
First Cecile Richards, the CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America whose organization has been fundraising off this tragedy said this to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC.
Absolutely, Andrea. We have been very clear, there are only a handful of centers in the country that allow women to donate fetal tissue. There is no profit involved. There is nothing like that. In fact, at this point, not a single clinic in this country is receiving even reimbursement for costs. This is an issue that I think has created a lot of hysteria by these incredibly highly edited videos and unfortunately, created the kind of climate that we are now seeing that leads to the harassment of doctors and the violence at clinics which really just has to stop.
The videos did it and they were incredibly highly edited videos (forget the fact they also released all of the raw video and the edits didn’t change the context, etc.)! The way Richards describes it you would think that there is an epidemic here, but since 2000 violent attacks on abortion clinics average to less than two a year. While these attacks are obviously tragic and contrary to the pro-life cause they do not constitute an epidemic.
Then U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) in a sheer stroke of genius said that pro-lifers saying that abortion is killing a baby led to this outcome. Forget the fact that is what abortion does.
“Yes, I think there is a connection between when you say somebody is killing a baby, and you go into all of that, and harvesting the parts from babies, this rhetoric is hurtful to the doctors, to the nurses, to the patients,” Boxer said on MSNBC. (I wonder if they actually had any pro-lifers on).
Forget the videos which have been effective tools in this fight, now pro-lifers can not even say what abortion is.
Then President Obama during his press briefing today said that we have to be careful how we talk about Planned Parenthood so we don’t “demonize them.”
“And with respect to Planned Parenthood, I think it’s clear — I’ve said it before — they provide health services to women all across the country. Have for generations. In many cases, it’s the only organization that provides health services to impoverished women,” Obama stated. “And I think it’s fair to have a legitimate, honest debate about abortion. I don’t think that’s something that is beyond the pale of our political discussion; I think it’s a serious, legitimate issue. How we talk about it — making sure that we’re talking about it factually, accurately, and not demonizing organizations like Planned Parenthood — I think is important. “
But hey left demonize pro-lifers all you want because we can’t let a crisis go to waste… I seem to remember hearing that before as well.
Locally Planned Parenthood of the Heartland could not resist piling on. In a statement released today they said:
Our minds are certainly on our Planned Parenthood friends and colleagues, who on Friday experienced a violent attack preceded by decades of harassment and violence against providers of safe, legal abortion. We are grateful to the law enforcement agencies that are committed to protecting our patients and our staff.
The health and safety of our patients and staff is always a top priority. We are constantly evaluating our security policies and procedures to ensure the continued safety of the women, men and families who depend on Planned Parenthood for health care. Even in a poisonous environment that feeds acts of violence, we will never back down from providing high-quality health care in a safe, supportive environment.
I just want to remind people of some pertinent facts. 1. No Planned Parenthood staff or patient was shot or killed. Two people there to provide support were, but we don’t know if they were targeted or if they were killed as the shooter was trying to fight off the police. 2. We still do not know the motivations of the shooter, that still has not been released by the police.
Also, speaking of decades of violence… no mention of the decades of violence Planned Parenthood has inflicted upon the unborn?