“No more baby parts,” Planned Parenthood shooting suspect allegedly told police

The man suspected of killing three people and injuring nine others at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood location allegedly said, "No more baby parts," as he was being arrested, leading some observers to say that the attack was a politically motivated act of domestic terrorism.

Two anonymous law enforcement sources told NBC News that the suspect, Robert Lewis Dear, made the "baby parts" comment along with numerous other "rantings" after he was taken into custody. A law enforcement source told the same thing to the Associated Press.

"Baby parts" is probably a reference to this summer's anti–Planned Parenthood videos

In July the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), a group run by anti-abortion activists, released a series of videos accusing Planned Parenthood of "selling baby parts," by which they meant illegally selling fetal tissue to researchers for a profit. CMP started the hashtag #PPSellsBabyParts to promote its videos and spread public outrage over its claims.

Numerous state and federal investigations have found no evidence that what CMP said was true. The videos were deceptively edited and left out numerous instances when Planned Parenthood employees said, contrary to CMP's claims, that fetal tissue research shouldn't be a revenue stream or a profit maker.

That hasn't stopped anti-abortion activists, or many Republican lawmakers, from continuing to talk about "baby parts" and call for Planned Parenthood to be defunded. The term was routine even among high-ranking Republicans like former Speaker of the House John Boehner. "Recent videos exposing the abortion-for-baby parts business have shocked the nation," Boehner said when he announced the creation of a select House committee to investigate the issue. Outspoken anti-abortion lawmakers like Trent Franks (R-AZ) used the term "baby parts" in press releases, and the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), used it in his opening statement when the committee held a hearing on the issue called "Planned Parenthood Exposed."

Pro-choice advocates blame the shootings on harsh anti-abortion rhetoric

Law enforcement sources stressed to NBC that Dear said a lot of things, including remarks about President Obama, so it's still too early to say what his motivation for the shooting really was. But Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, said the remark shows that the attack was "motivated by opposition to safe and legal abortion."

"This is an appalling act of violence targeting access to health care and terrorizing skilled and dedicated health care professionals," Cowart said in a statement.

NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue wrote a Facebook post on Saturday night that blamed CMP's David Daleiden, as well as CMP board member and Operation Rescue president Troy Newman, for stoking violent anti-abortion sentiment with their rhetoric:

Hogue and other pro-choice advocates say that violence against abortion clinics should be labeled and investigated as domestic terrorism. The mayor of Colorado Springs appears to agree that this incident counts as domestic terrorism.

While many GOP presidential candidates still haven't mentioned the attacks (or haven't mentioned Planned Parenthood when they do), Mike Huckabee called the attacks "domestic terrorism":

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via