Up North Progressive

… belief is the death of intelligence” – Robert Anton Wilson

On social media anti-choicers applauded Robert L. Dear for stopping the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood from murdering more babies while most of the GOP presidential candidates remain mute over the attack on the health care clinic. So far, Mike Huckabee exercised his lack of cognitive ability to parrot what he read on Twitter. It’s not like he has a chance of winning the GOP nomination, so we’ll give him a pass for opening his mouth.

We don’t know what procedures or services the health clinic were busy with on Friday, November 27, as Dear walked into the Planned Parenthood parking lot with his rifle and started shooting at people in cars and on the street. We do know he was never at any bank. The target was always Planned Parenthood. Once he was inside the building, he shot more people, wounding 9 and killing 3 before surrendering to the police. Dear shut the clinic down, but did he stop any abortions that day?

It’s more likely he stopped people from receiving STD testing and treatment, cancer screenings, prenatal care, or engaged couples having premarital tests. He likely stopped people from picking up their birth control, such as women needing hormone therapy, or married couples responsibly managing their family size. Most importantly, people needing health care services who can’t afford them elsewhere were there that day.

It’s obvious the hate speech directed at Planned Parenthood over the fake videos about selling baby parts – something Planned Parenthood has never done, but anti-choicers vehemently believe – is what led Robert Dear to shoot up the clinic. Hate speech repeated by politicians and the media to the point that even while people were being shot and killed, brainwashed anti-choicers continued to parrot that hate speech on the internet and still do it now.

The unfortunate truth about this tragedy is that no matter how much we share facts, belief will prevail. It does no good to tell anti-choicers the Operation Rescue-backed videos are fake, that Obamacare doesn’t pay for abortions, or that women seeking reproductive health care are not sluts. Anti-choicers are beyond understanding the facts and just don’t care. They believe they’re right, and that’s good enough for them.

Forget about anti-choicers. Those of us who know the truth need to support Planned Parenthood now more than ever. The work they do keeping Americans healthy must be protected so they can continue. The more work done to educate people about the truth, the sooner we can put an end to radical religious-fueled violence.