Richards mourns with, rallies Planned Parenthood supporters

The latest on Planned Parenthood’s day of unity in response to shootings at a Colorado Planned Parenthood center.

Saying “enough is enough” to loud applause, the national head of Planned Parenthood says it’s time to end violence against women and the doctors and clinicians who offer them health care.

The President of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, also spoke at the event in Denver.

But in the wake of the deadly shootout last week at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, clinics nationwide are redoubling security efforts, checking surveillance cameras and reviewing evacuation plans.

The gathering was held in honor of the victims of the Colorado Springs shooting last week.

Before meeting privately with the Colorado Springs workers, Richards said she did not have a particular message for them other than just being there to support them. Four other civilians and five other officers were wounded.

Garrett Swasey, a University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer, was shot after rushing to the campus to help.

“I don’t know of anybody who has suggested violence toward Planned Parenthood personnel or suggested violence toward their clinics”, he said.

“It’s not enough to denounce the tragedy without also denouncing the poisonous rhetoric that fueled it. Instead, some politicians are continuing to stoke it, which is unconscionable – going so far as to try and pass legislation further blocking access to health care just days after the tragedy in Colorado Springs”.

Also killed in the attack were two people who were accompanying friends to the clinic — Ke’Arre Stewart, 29, an Army veteran who served in Iraq and a father of two, and Jennifer Markovsky, 36, a mother of two who grew up in Hawaii in the tight-knit community of Waianae on Oahu. We have to be willing to look the pro-choice apologists in the eye and say “You don’t get to write political statements in the blood of innocent victims”.