Colorado Shooter Allegedly Announces: ‘I Am Guilty ... I Am a Warrior for the Babies’
Robert Dear made shocking statements at his court hearing. (Photo: AP Images)
According to a reporter with a local CBS affiliate, Robert Lewis Dear, the man who opened fire at the Planned Parenthood health center in Colorado Springs, Colo., the day after Thanksgiving interrupted court proceedings on Dec. 9 to exclaim in a hearing: “I am guilty! There will be no trial. I am a warrior for the babies.”
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Dear’s alleged outburst should eliminate all remaining speculation that his attack on the clinic was meant to harm and target anything but Planned Parenthood and its patients and health care providers — seemingly as a result of the now-debunked videos released by the antiabortion activist group the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) this summer. The CMP tapes alleged, with no hard evidence to substantiate any of its claims, that some Planned Parenthood health centers were illegally profiting from fetal tissue donation programs.
Fetal tissue donation is a longstanding, legal practice formalized and expanded during the Reagan administration in which women may donate their fetal tissue for biomedical research following an abortion or miscarriage. Fetal tissue research led to the polio vaccine and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, and it is agreed by scientists to potentially hold the key to finding cures for several forms of cancer, as well as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
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Federal regulations outline that providers should be reimbursed for hard costs accrued in collecting, storing, and transporting fetal tissue samples for research. Presently, there are only two states in which Planned Parenthood operates fetal tissue donation programs. This fall, Planned Parenthood announced that it would no longer be receiving any fees for its costs in the places where it makes fetal tissue donation available to patients who elect to participate in it. Eight states have found Planned Parenthood free of any wrongdoing in statewide investigations regarding its fetal tissue donation program practices; an additional seven states have declined to even investigate the reproductive and sexual health care provider after finding no evidence to substantiate any claims of wrongdoing.
While Dear announced his malicious intentions, prosecutors announced that they would be filing 179 separate counts against Dear, including that of murder.
Vicki Cowart, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said in a statement:
“What happened in Colorado Springs was a horrific tragedy. Our focus now is on recovery and making sure this never happens again. We continue to provide high-quality, compassionate health care in a safe, supportive environment. Every day since this terrible tragedy, Planned Parenthood’s doors have been open across Colorado, across our Rocky Mountain region, and across this country. Our doors — and our hearts — stay open.
“We know that words matter. It is time to put an end to the dangerous rhetoric that has permeated our political conversations. Enough is enough — this violence, whether inflicted with words or with weapons, cannot become our normal.”
The Nov. 27 killing spree left three dead, all of them parents, and nine injured.
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