In the week since Robert Dear killed three people and wounded nine others at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo., abortion advocates have saturated the media with the suggestion that the pro-life movement — and specifically pro-lifers’ candid talk about abortion — is to blame. But unlike with many other recent mass shootings, the bloodshed seems to be the actions of one mentally disturbed man with no connection to a broader ideological movement, especially one that cherishes life.
Immediately after the massacre, I joined other pro-life leaders in condemning the shootings in the strongest possible terms. It was an unconscionable act of wanton violence, and if Dear is found guilty, he should punished to the utmost of the law.
Yet, in the last week, many abortion-rights advocates have exploited the massare to blame pro-lifers for inciting and inspiring the shooter. Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood’s executive vice president, said that “it is offensive and outrageous that some politicians are now claiming this tragedy has nothing to do with the toxic environment they helped create.” Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, declared that abortion opponents “have ignited a firestorm of hate” and “knew there could be these types of consequences.” The murders, Saporta, said, were “not a huge surprise.”
Meanwhile on ABC News’ “This Week,” the president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains lamented the “hateful speech” of recent months among legislators and Republican presidential candidates. “I can’t believe that this isn’t contributing to some folks, mentally unwell or not, thinking that it’s O.K. to target Planned Parenthood or to target abortion providers,” she said.
And the former communications director for former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said, “Politicians need to stop escalating the rhetoric against Planned Parenthood, and that means by and large the Republican Party. Right-wing politicians need to back off.”
Finally, Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, claimed that pro-lifers “feed domestic terrorism.”
Some abortion advocates in the media have made much of a report that Dear allegedly said “no more baby parts,” according to an unnamed police officer, when he was arrested. This was an apparent reference to Planned Parenthood’s practice of harvesting body parts for fetal research, which was exposed last summer by undercover videos shot by the Center for Medical Progress.
Abortion advocates claim that by uncovering Planned Parenthood’s pratices, CMP is partly responsible for Dear’s actions. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote this week that Chris Christie’s talk of the “systematic murder of children in the womb to preserve their body parts,” somehow fuels the incitement to violence.
This is absurd. Speaking plainly about what abortion is, and exposing how the country’s largest abortion business profits from trafficking in aborted baby body parts, justifiably provokes outrage and warrants further investigation. But it does not incite anyone to violence. Even Planned Parenthood has taken the videos seriously enough that it has stated that it will no longer accept money for transferring body parts for research.
There is a profound irony in liberals blaming Dear’s actions on pro life language. For the past several years, many on the Left have engaged in over-the-top, hateful rhetoric toward the police and then claimed that the assassinations of police officers that followed had nothing to do with their remarks. A common chant at some Black Lives Matter demonstrations is “Pig in a blanket,” referring to a dead cop with a sheet over his body. This same left-wing crowd tells us that mosques around the world where imams preach that infidels must be killed have nothing to with jihadists who are killing infidels.
Meanwhile, in the wake of the San Bernardino massacre, many in the media seemed to go out of their way to dismiss the possibility that radical Islam played a role in the killings. Instead, some major news agencies initially reported that the killings had taken place two miles from a Planned Parenthood facility, raising the possibility that anti-abortion activists were involved.
Opponents of abortion and critics of Planned Parenthood are not to blame for the horrific actions of one deeply disturbed man who reportedly was prone to violent outbursts and had no known associations with the pro-life movement.
In fact, abortion advocates and their allies in the media have not been able to come up with anyone in the pro-life movement who is an advocate of violence to defeat abortion. That’s because there’s no greater violation of the pro-life ethic than to murder in the name of life.
Gary L. Bauer is president of American Values. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
