In a commentary for Broadly, columnist Gabby Bess speaks with Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, about how a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic has moved on since a deadly shooting occurred there last year.
Bess recalls the Colorado clinic shooting, which took place on Nov. 27, 2015, when Robert Dear allegedly killed three people and injured nine others. The anniversary of the shooting "represents the tragedy, as well as the increasing violence toward women who want to exercise their reproductive rights," Bess writes. However, according to Cowart, the anniversary "will also be a day that signifies the bravery of the women and men who keep Planned Parenthood's doors open; the community who rallied around the center after the attack closed down the clinic for months and left the facility damaged and its staff shaken; and all those who fight for choice, despite the dangers."
Cowart said, "I won't be able to get through that time without a lot of emotions ... But pride will be one of them: pride in our resilience and hope for the future. Sadness and fear will be mixed in there, too." Citing Cowart's ongoing optimism, Bess notes that "when you're in a line of work where regular terrorist attacks against your place of work go quietly unnoticed, legislators pass bills to criminalize you for doing your job, and violent opposition is to be expected, optimism is the only way forward."
Bess explains that prior to the shooting, conservative lawmakers and abortion-rights opponents had been targeting Planned Parenthood via a series of secretly filmed, misleading videos on fetal tissue donation. In turn, a House panel, led by conservative lawmakers, "opened up an investigation into the healthcare provider," lending "political legitimacy" to the videos and spurring "a spate of state-level bills to defund Planned Parenthood," even though it failed to find "any wrongdoing on Planned Parenthood's part."
According to Bess, "In this toxic environment, the shooting became only the latest and the most direct affront to the healthcare provider, which helps millions of women and men with family planning, contraception, [sexually transmitted infections] screenings, and other preventative care." Cowart said the attack marked a turning point, stating, "[Abortion-rights opponents] really are trying to shut us down and punish women who seek abortions. They want to punish people who just happen to be near an abortion facility." Cowart continued, "(The shooting) was a really blatant underscoring of the [antiabortion-rights] environment that has built up around us over the years."
As a result, following the attack, "[i]t was essential to send a message that the health care provider will continue to serve women in the face of efforts to stop it," Bess writes. Cowart said, "Right away, after the shooting happened, we said to ourselves and our community, 'We are resilient. We will not let this event define us.'"
According to Bess, Planned Parenthood in December 2015 "organized a national day of solidarity." Touching on the widespread support Planned Parenthood received after the shooting, Cowart said, "We had people in the immediate aftermath bring food to the health center near them and send flowers ... We had people call us and say, 'I have to get off the sidelines. I can't not be involved anymore.'"
"Planned Parenthood also launched a campaign called 'These Doors Stay Open,'" Bess writes. Though the Colorado clinic remained closed to provide the facility and community time to recover, Planned Parenthood "clinics across the country were up and running on November 28." Cowart said, "We opened the other health centers the next day, but not without fear. People got up and punched through their fear to be open for their communities."
The Colorado clinic opened again on May 1. "We tried as much as possible to be business as usual. We're in the business of serving people and they need us to be strong," Cowart said. According to Cowart, the clinic is now providing care "in as normal a way as possible" and hoping to move forward.
When reflecting on the state of abortion rights nationwide, Cowart framed the issue as a "long-term problem that we're working on." She explained, "We have giant swaths in this country where women cannot access an abortion without driving for a day or two to find a provider. More than a third of the women in this country live in a place where abortion is heavily restricted, and we all live in a place where abortion is not [covered for low-income] women, with the Hyde Amendment in place," which has a disproportionate effect on low-income women, rural women and young women. Cowart said, "There's so much work to be done. But we're inexorably marching toward a solution."
Despite these setbacks and continued political attacks on abortion rights, Cowart "remains staunchly hopeful," Bess writes. Cowart said, "We're clearly pushing back [against abortion-rights restrictions] in a way that hasn't happened before, and therefore there are really strong negative reactions. The Colorado shooting was one of them ... But eventually you do push away and you do break free" (Bess, Broadly, 10/24).
