Monday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” while disusing last weeks shooting at the Colorado Springs, CO Planned Parenthood that resulted in the deaths of three people, the president of the Planned Parenthood Cecile Richards blamed “toxic” rhetoric from the presidential candidates for inspiring such shootings.
Richards said, “Both the law enforcement officials in Colorado Springs as well as the staff there in that health center that were able to work together not only to safeguard many of the patients and the employees that were there, but to work with law enforcement using our video equipment so that they could actually follow the shooter and eventually apprehend him without further loss of life. This is something that unfortunately, anyone who provides reproductive health care in this country, not only Planned Parenthood, has to take very seriously today. It’s why again, I would implore people who are putting politics ahead of women’s health care and ahead of women’s safety to think carefully the rhetoric that you use, that potentially inflames this kind of activity.”
She continued, “I have never seen the kind of rhetoric that we are seeing from presidential candidates that are demeaning 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.”
While Discussing the controversial videos released earlier this year that showed Planned Parenthood doctors negotiating the price of fetal tissue she added, “We have been very clear, there are only a handful of centers in the country that allow women to donate fetal tissue. There is no profit involved. There is nothing like that. In fact, 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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