Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid implied Monday that Republican attempts to defund Planned Parenthood played a role in the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last week, and said political leaders have to “think very hard” about what they say going forward.
Speaking on the Senate floor, Reid said the attack, which took the lives of three people, including a police officer, happened in the “context” of ongoing GOP attacks against the group.
“We in the Senate should not fail to see the context in which this vile assault took place,” Reid said.
“Last summer, a right-wing group began unleashing a series of heavily edited videos with unsubstantiated allegations, and since that time Republicans in Congress have made it their mission to push these unsubstantiated allegations every chance they get,” he said.
Reid said those attacks are “baseless,” but said the videos that were released have fueled GOP attempts to defund the women’s health and abortion provider. Reid commended Planned Parenthood for standing up to these attacks, and implied that the Republican efforts have left the group vulnerable.
“Whipping people into a frenzy of hate and anger and providing them with easy access to firearms has proven disastrous to our country,” he said.
“We have a responsibility as leaders to think very hard about what we say, and deal with this context, and what are the consequences,” he added.
Earlier in the day, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., indicated that GOP leaders may be about to drop their push to defund the group, at least in the short term.
