Anti-abortion activists were quick to condemn Friday’s shooting at a Planned Parenthood center, but Republican politicians have been slower to respond.
Within the first 24 hours after the attack that left three dead, major groups that fight abortion decried the deed, saying violence against abortion providers is wrong and contrary to their goal of respecting all forms of human life.
National Right to Life said it supports only peaceful, legal activities to protest abortion. The group “unequivocally condemns unlawful activities and acts of violence regardless of motivation,” said the group’s president Carol Tobias.
The Family Research Council, whose D.C. headquarters were the site of a 2012 shooting, said it condemns the attack regardless of the motives of shooter Robert Lewis Dear. Americans United for Life, the Christian Defense Coalition and Operation Rescue have also denounced the attack.
So did David Daleiden, the maker of influential undercover videos highlighting how Planned Parenthood clinics used to get compensated for providing aborted fetuses for medical research. His group, the Center for Medical Progress, “does not support vigilante violence against abortion providers,” Daleiden said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood remains a controversial healthcare provider since it performs more abortions than any other group in the U.S. Republicans in Congress have passed legislation to prohibit it from getting federal reimbursements through Medicaid and family planning funds, while Democrats defend the group for providing care to many low-income women.
Republicans on Capitol Hill, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have said virtually nothing about the attack, which Dear carried out Friday afternoon at a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado Springs, Colo., killing one police officer and two other people.
And the 14 Republicans seeking the presidential nomination took their time in responding, with most of them saying nothing until questioned about the incident during the Sunday morning talk shows on cable and network television.
Carly Fiorina, who is one of the most outspoken candidates against abortion, called the shooting a “tragedy.” Leading contender Donald Trump called it a “terrible thing” and said Dear is a “maniac.” Neurosurgeon Ben Carson called it a “hate crime” and urged both sides in the abortion debate to disagree in a peaceful manner. Mike Huckabee strongly condemned the attack, too.
But others have said nothing yet. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was the only Republican to say anything about the attack a day after it happened, when he called it “horrific” during a speech in Iowa. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who are polling similar to Cruz, haven’t responded at all to the attack.
The attack could put the Republicans in a sticky position, as GOP primary voters generally oppose abortion and dislike Planned Parenthood. But failing to condemn a shooting puts them in contrast with their Democratic counterparts, all of whom have quickly decried it.
The Democratic National Committee eagerly criticized the Republican response, with Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz saying Sunday that there has been “no meaningful reaction” from the party’s candidates and political leaders.
“This shameful silence is becoming a theme for Republicans, who are all too ready to denounce a three-year-old refugee but not acts committed by a domestic terrorist like what we saw Friday,” she said in a statement.
