Activists renew calls for abortion clinic attacks to be labeled domestic terrorism

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Activists renew calls for abortion clinic attacks to be labeled domestic terrorism

Molly Redden
Thursday 3 December 2015 15.15 GMT

In the wake of Friday’s shooting at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood that left three dead and nine injured, abortion rights groups have renewed their calls for the Department of Justice to investigate attacks on abortion providers and clinics as acts of domestic terrorism.

“This man went into one abortion clinic with the intention of scaring women at abortion clinics all over the nation,” said Ilyse Hogue, the president of the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, referring to the suspect in the attack. “Unfortunately, we could have predicted this. This was not a random shooting. This was a politically motivated attack and it must be called out as such.”

Barack Obama quickly met the assault in Colorado with a strong pronouncement against “demonizing organizations like Planned Parenthood” and gun violence. Lawmakers, he said, are “going to have to act in order to make sure we’re preventing people who are deranged from getting weapons that can magnify the damage they can do”.

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On Wednesday, NARAL and its partners delivered a petition to US attorney general Loretta Lynch demanding a DoJ terrorism investigation – just two days before the shooter in Colorado Springs opened fire, Hogue said.

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/03/planned-parenthood-shooting-doj-domestic-terrorism-abortion

[riversedge]

1. Colorado Activists ‘Name Names’ of Republicans Who Stoke Clinic Violence

Colorado Activists ‘Name Names’ of Republicans Who Stoke Clinic Violence
http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2015/12/01/colorado-activists-name-names-republicans-stoke-clinic-violence/


by Jason Salzman

December 1, 2015 - 5:43 pm



Saying it’s “time to name names,” local pro-choice activists spotlighted inflammatory anti-choice rhetoric by specific Colorado politicians. (Mike Coffman for Congress / YouTube)





At a gathering of reporters at the Colorado State Capitol Tuesday, Amy Runyon-Harms, director of ProgressNow Colorado, said: “It’s time to name names. It’s time to call out and stop this dangerous campaign of lies from right-wing politicians before more lives are lost.”

Runyon-Harms asked three Colorado politicians to apologize for their “extreme” anti-Planned Parenthood rhetoric, which, she said, played a role in inciting a man to kill three people Friday at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.

“It must stop, and stop now,” Runyon-Harms said. “We call on right-wing politicians across the state and nation to stop their false attacks on Planned Parenthood, and apologize for lies that are directly contributing to politically motivated violence in America today.”

The three elected officials, all Republicans, spotlighted at Tuesday’s news conference were U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman, state Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt (R-Colorado Springs), and state Sen. Tim Neville, who represents a West Denver suburb and is running for U.S. Senate.

Supporters standing on the steps behind Runyon-Harms and other speakers held signs containing recent quotes from each of the three lawmakers, showing the type of rhetoric organizers of the news conference say leads to violence.