Video: Attack On Planned Parenthood Becomes Political


Friday’s attack on the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs has prompted the conversation about this being an attack of “domestic terrorism.” Now the 2016 Presidential campaign will see a move to both stronger gun laws and a more determined push by supporters to keep Planned Parenthood and women healthcare issues.

Friday, there was a six hour siege at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs. In the end two civilians and a police officer were killed when a gunman opened fire inside the facility. The six hour standoff ended when police arrested the suspected gunman, but the motive for the shooting was not immediately known.

Later in the day, President Barack Obama pushed for stronger gun control, once again, after yet another mass killing in the United States.

Responding to the attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs that left three people dead on Friday, President Barack Obama told the American people on Saturday that “we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them.”

“The last thing Americans should have to do, over the holidays or any day, is comfort the families of people killed by gun violence,” Obama said. “And yet, two days after Thanksgiving, that’s what we are forced to do again. This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal,” he added. “Enough is enough.”

Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of of the Rocky Mountains, said in a statement that a possible cause for the shooting is that “extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country.”

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Vox Media reporter Sarah Kliff noted Friday night, “Shootings at abortion clinics are rare. But violence against clinics is not.” The National Abortion Federation (NAF) reports four arson attempts on clinics in 2012 alone; the past few months of 2015 have seen attacks made on clinics in New Orleans, Louisiana (arson); Pullman, Washington (arson); Thousand Oaks, California (arson); Aurora, Illinois (arson); and Claremont, New Hampshire (axe).

The recent attacks on Planned Parenthood that have come as a result of the widely discredited, heavily edited “sting” videos released this summer by the antiabortion activist group the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) have only inflamed the fear-mongering, hatred and violence against women’s bodies that is, unfortunately, a long-standing cultural trend.

Terrorizing women for living in their own bodies and for having autonomy over their own health decisions is something that has long antagonized many – so much so, that they would, clearly, turn to killing, violence and terrorism rather than let women live safely and independently.

Our friends at Breitbart News reported that David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress who produced more than a dozen videos this summer and fall exposing Planned Parenthood’s organ harvest from aborted babies. Planned Parenthood has already said the videos would lead to violence against their clinics.

In a statement to Breitbart condemned the shootings in Colorado, “The Center for Medical Progress does not support vigilante violence against abortion providers. There are people at Planned Parenthood who I still consider friends and my thoughts and prayers are with them at this time for no one to be injured.”

A number Pro-Life groups condemned the attack on the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado. Steven Ertelt, editor of LifeNews, told Breitbart, “Anyone who would direct violence towards a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic is clearly not pro-life. The shooter today is showing a crass and horrific lack of respect for human life that is totally at odds with everything the pro-life movement stands for.”

 

Jim Williams is the Washington Bureau Chief, Digital Director as well as the Director of Special Projects for Genesis Communications. He is starting his third year as part of the team. This is Williams 40th year in the media business, and in that time he has served in a number of capacities. He is a seven time Emmy Award winning television producer, director, writer and executive. He has developed four regional sports networks, directed over 2,000 live sporting events including basketball, football, baseball hockey, soccer and even polo to name a few sports. Major events include three Olympic Games, two World Cups, two World Series, six NBA Playoffs, four Stanley Cup Playoffs, four NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournaments (March Madness), two Super Bowl and over a dozen college bowl games. On the entertainment side Williams was involved s and directed over 500 concerts for Showtime, Pay Per View and MTV Networks.