Edited Republican Videos Inspired Domestic Terrorist Attack On Colorado Planned Parenthood

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 06:39 pm

The mayor of Colorado Springs called the shootings at Planned Parenthood domestic terrorism while it is being reported that the shooter has made references to baby parts and anti-abortion views to law enforcement.

CNN reported, “Suspected Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear mentioned “baby parts” to investigators and in later interviews expressed anti-abortion and anti-government views.”

It is not a coincidence that the deadly attack occurred on Planned Parenthood after Republicans in Congress spent years coordinating an attack on Planned Parenthood that featured heavily edited videos.

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The Hill reported that Republican members of Congress coordinated the attack on Planned Parenthood with anti-choice organizations like the Center For Medical Progress:

Weeks before the first undercover Planned Parenthood video surfaced, Rep. Diane Black was given a sneak preview of three hours of the not-yet-released footage.

….

Black said she was invited to the screening by two other anti-abortion lawmakers who had been given early access to the footage. She said the viewing was to help understand the wealth of footage and “so I could be prepared for comment” when the videos became public.

Republicans coordinated an attack on Planned Parenthood that involved the spread of false information that resulted in the deaths of a police officer and two civilians.

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers called the attack an act of domestic terrorism on ABC’s This Week:

RADDATZ: But would you say, Mr. Mayor, this is an act of domestic terrorism?

SUTHERS: It certainly appears that way. We have, Martha, something that occurs quite a bit. We have a person that’s pretty much off the grid and acting for whatever motivation, very hard to ferret out those folks. You know, I — I was an attorney general that was a head of a committee looking at things that are consistent about these kinds of incidents. And one of the things we don’t do very well is identify these people, sometimes with mental health problems, and prevent their access to weapons. And I — you know, we’ll wait and see here, but all indications are this guy, as I say, was off the grid.

As Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders said yesterday, the attack on Planned Parenthood was an unintended consequence of Republican rhetoric. The biggest immediate terror threat in the United States is coming from domestic right-wing extremism.

Coordinated inflammatory partisan stunts like the fake Planned Parenthood videos provide motivation of mentally unstable domestic terrorists who subscribe to the extreme right-wing agenda and treat Republican lies as truth to attack.

Those Republican members of Congress, who plotted and carried out the campaign against Planned Parenthood, are indirectly responsible for an act of domestic terrorism.

Donald Trump and other Republicans are trying distance themselves from the domestic terrorist by calling him a maniac, but Republicans can’t escape the fact that the shooter was inspired by their attacks on Planned Parenthood.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association