Abortion Activist: GOP Rhetoric Inflaming 'Culture of Hatred' Against Clinics

GOP presidential candidates are pushing back hard against arguments from Planned Parenthood officials and pro-abortion activists that Colorado Springs shooting suspect Robert Dear was spurred to action by their speech and by a series of underground videos showing the alleged sale of fetal body parts.

Asked by CNN's Pamela Brown if she believes GOP presidential candidates "knew they were going to incite violence" by speaking out against abortion, Vicki Saporta, president and CEO of The National Abortion Federation said that anti-abortion rhetoric 'can inflame people to violence."

"The politicians that wrap themselves in false accusations, repeating them over and over, need to take a look at their contribution to this culture of hatred that is responsible for people taking the law into their own hands," Saporta told CNN's "At This Hour" program.

"We live in a democracy," she continued. "We can't allow people to use violence to settle political differences. Regardless of how politicians feel about the issue of abortion, I think we can all agree it's not appropriate to use violence to settle our political differences. And we need to calm the rhetoric in this country and not continue to incite extremists to commit acts of terrorism against abortion providers."

Carly Fiorina, who took an especially hard stance against Planned Parenthood in the second Republican debate, on Sunday denied that speech against abortion providers, though, should be blamed for the shootings, reports The Washington Post. 

"This is so typical of the left to immediately begin demonizing a messenger because they don't agree with the message," she told "Fox News Sunday."

"The vast majority of Americans agree what Planned Parenthood is doing is wrong."

As for the shootings, "It's obviously a tragedy. Nothing justifies this," Fiorina said. "Any protesters should always be peaceful. Whether it's Black Lives Matter or pro-life protesters."

In her remarks in the debate, Fiorina spoke emotionally about a video showing "a fully formed fetus on the table, its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain."

However, her description was proven inaccurate, The Post reports that while no such video has been found, Fiorina still has insisted that the way she described it is accurate.

Saporta said that the National Abortion Federation has recorded an unprecedented increase in hate speech in threats, and in calls to action against abortion providers since the videos were released.

"In fact, we had one individual calling for the arson of every clinic in America to stop abortion," she continued. "Since that call to action, we've had four arsons at Planned Parenthood clinics in less than three months."

And calls to action and "inflammatory rhetoric" do have consequences, Saporta continued.

"We have had a history for violence against abortion providers for four decades in this country," she said. "Enough is enough and it needs to stop."

Dear, Saporta maintained, "stated certain things when he was arrested, things that were directly the subject of these videos, and I am certain when all is said and done, that he was inspired by the vitriol and extent of the abortion hateful speech and threats that we've been living with since July."

Sen. Ted Cruz, meanwhile, on Sunday complained about the "vicious rhetoric on the left, blaming those who are pro-life," and told reporters in Newton, Iowa that "we don't fully know the motivations of this deranged individual" in the shooting, where three people were  killed and nine wounded, reports, The New York Times.

And then, the Texas Republican, contended that Dear was "registered to vote as a woman" and when a reporter cited reports that Dear said "no more baby parts" after he was caught, Cruz retorted, "well, it's also reported that he was registered as an independent and as a woman and a transgender leftist activist."

Later, aides insisted Cruz wasn't calling Dear a "transgender leftist activist," but instead was showing how little is known about the alleged gunman.

"He was making the point that there isn't enough information," Rick Tyler, a campaign spokesman, commented. "You can't expect a full response to a story that's developing. The point was there's a lot of raw information going around that's not confirmed."

Front-runner Donald Trump, meanwhile, told "Meet the Press" that the shooting was "terrible," but added that he sees "a lot of dislike for Planned Parenthood" at his rallies, reports NBC News.

However, he said he doesn't believe anti-Planned Parenthood statements led to the shootings.

"No, I think he (the suspect, Robert Dear) is a sick person," adding he believes the gunman is a "maniac" and "extremist."

At the same time, he said that there is a "tremendous group" of people who found the videos terrible, "with some of these people from Planned Parenthood talking about it like you're selling parts to a car . . . there are a lot of people that are very unhappy about that."

Carson, also on "Meet the Press," said he thinks "hateful rhetoric and terrorist-type activities are horrible, no matter from where they emanate. And we should all condemn them, at all times."

Further, the retired neurosurgeon said, "We have to stop allowing ourselves to be pushed into different corners and then throwing hateful barbs at each other . . . We must somehow manage to regain the high ground and understand that we're not each other's enemies, even though we may have some differences of opinions about things. Let's stop trying to destroy each other."

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a vocal abortion opponent, told CNN Sunday that the shootings were "domestic terrorism" and "there's nothing about any of us that would condone or in any way look the other way on something like this," Huckabee said.

"There's no excuse for killing other people, whether it's happening inside the Planned Parenthood headquarters, inside their clinics where many millions of babies die, or whether it's people attacking Planned Parenthood," said Huckabee.

Planned Parenthood national President Cecile Richards on Monday told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell that it was "discouraging" that a politician was on CNN, while the shooting was happening, talking about defunding Planned Parenthood.

"This weekend, despite the events of Friday, our clinics were open all across the country and frankly, at Planned Parenthood what we are most focused on is the safety and health of women and our doctors," Richards said.

"Thousands of women went to planned parenthood health centers all across the country this weekend for health care. Our motto at Planned Parenthood is care no matter what. That our doors stay open."

Meanwhile, she said she has never seen the kind of rhetoric that has come from the presidential candidates that demean "not only Planned Parenthood, but women who go to Planned Parenthood, doctors at Planned Parenthood, even the fact that there is safe and legal abortion in America. I do think that this political season, it's as toxic as I have ever seen."

There is only a handful of clinics nationally where fetal tissue is donated, she continued, and "there is no profit involved, there is nothing like that. At this point, not a single clinic in this country is receiving even reimbursement for costs. This is an issue that I think has created a lot of hysteria by these incredibly highly edited videos and unfortunately, created the kind of climate that we are now seeing that leads to the harassment of doctors and the violence at clinics which really just has to stop."

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