{"id":82259,"date":"2015-12-12T15:48:15","date_gmt":"2015-12-12T20:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=82259"},"modified":"2015-12-12T16:10:07","modified_gmt":"2015-12-12T21:10:07","slug":"calling-planned-parenthood-criminal-enterprise-isnt-objectionable-accurate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/calling-planned-parenthood-criminal-enterprise-isnt-objectionable-accurate\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling Planned Parenthood a criminal enterprise isn’t “objectionable.” It’s accurate."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Recently, columnist Robyn Urback<\/a> asked, \u201cWhat responsibility, if any, should GOP candidates shoulder for the Planned Parenthood attack?\u201d Urback devoted eleven paragraphs to that question, which is odd, because she could have answered it with a single word.<\/p>\n

None.<\/p>\n

None of the GOP’s presidential hopefuls opened fire on the victims in Colorado Springs last month. The only person arrested for doing so was Robert Lewis Dear, Jr., a 57 year-old recluse previously accused of domestic violence, voyeurism, and cruelty to animals<\/a>. Listed as a woman<\/a> on voter registration records, the suspects also seems to have a history<\/a> of soliciting sex and drugs along with ranting about the apocalypse. As of yet, Dear has announced no plans to seek the Republican nomination.<\/p>\n

But despite the candidates not committing the murders and publicly condemning them as soon as they happened, Urback still has her suspicions. She feels their habit of \u201cpummeling Planned Parenthood\u201d with \u201cgrossly hyperbolic\u201d and \u201coutright dangerous\u201d rhetoric could have influenced the alleged killer \u201cwhenever he switched on the T.V.\u201d That Dear reportedly lived without electricity<\/a> somehow wasn\u2019t an obstacle.<\/p>\n

Urback concludes by declaring:<\/p>\n

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Ridiculous statements about Planned Parenthood being a criminal enterprise or an abortion factory aren\u2019t merely objectionable because an unstable person might read them as license to attack a clinic, but because they\u2019re morally disingenuous and utterly incorrect.<\/p>\n

Ideally, politicians, talk-show hosts and activists would stay true to facts not out of fear that someone might react violently, but because it\u2019s what decent leaders do. Sadly, we\u2019re still waiting for a person like that to emerge in the GOP presidential race.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

After reading that, a couple things become evident. The first is that if Ms. Urback really believes public figures can inspire violence, then this must have been recent discovery for her. As far as I can tell, she said nothing about anti-Christian rhetoric after a gunman who \u201cdisliked organized religion<\/a>\u201d murdered nine people in Oregon two months back. Neither did a 2012 shooting<\/a> at the socially conservative Family Research Council prompt her to address how gay marriage opponents have been vilified<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My second observation? When it comes to fact checking, Urback definitely needs to bring her game up.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the Center for Medical Progress<\/a> (CMP) began to release a series of videos. Shot on hidden cameras, they mostly showed Planned Parenthood executives meeting with people claiming to be fetal tissue buyers. Near the beginning of her piece, Urback claims the footage only proves that Planned Parenthood \u201cwas being reimbursed for transport costs associated with donating tissue to medical research, which is legal.\u201d Apparently she missed a few scenes.<\/p>\n