Editor,
Anti-abortion rhetoric causes violence. Last week, three people lost their lives at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs. I was heartbroken when I heard the news, but I was even more heartbroken when I logged into Facebook and Twitter to see people who identify as “pro-life” supporting the shooter, or arguing that that’s what Planned Parenthood gets for “murdering babies every day.”
I am aware that these people are on the extreme end of the pro-life spectrum. However, I also noticed that Republican presidential candidates, pro-life groups and pro-life individuals refused to take any responsibility for what occurred in Colorado Springs. They sent prayers to the victims, and then they continued on with plans to defund Planned Parenthood and to limit the choices women have when it comes to reproduction.
These are the same people who stand in front of huge audiences and vilify people who connect themselves with Planned Parenthood. These are people who constantly spread lies about Planned Parenthood and how they “sell baby parts.” These are the people who stand outside clinics, protesting and spewing hateful messages about people being “disgusting,” “murderers,” or that they are “going to go to hell.” These are the same people who act shocked when a man goes in to a clinic with a gun and kills people because of the lies and the hate he has heard, believed and spewed about Planned Parenthood.
Anti-abortion rhetoric is often hateful, dehumanizing and filled with misinformation. This rhetoric leads to violence. It does not matter what you think about abortion: hate has no place in the conversations surrounding abortion.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Bates
UNM student
