Planned Parenthood Attack

The fatal shootings at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic are the latest in a long history of violence at clinics that provide abortions and doctors who perform the procedure. Police aren't saying what motivated this most recent shooting. The attack comes as the nonprofit endures criticism from anti-abortion lawmakers and renewed protests outside clinics since a group of abortion opponents released videos they claimed showed the organization negotiating fetal tissue sales. Planned Parenthood has been a polarizing organization ever since its precursor, a clinic in Brooklyn, New York, was founded in 1916 by pioneering birth-control advocate Margaret Sanger. It provides a range of health services — including cancer screenings, testing for HIV and contraception — but its role as the No. 1 abortion provider in the United States has for many years made it the focus of violence, boycotts, protests and attempted sting operations by anti-abortion activists. Since 1977, there have been 8 murders, 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings and 186 arsons and thousands of other incidents, including vandalism, according to the National Abortion Foundation, a trade group for abortion providers. In December 1994, two receptionists were murdered at Planned Parenthood clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts, and five other people were wounded. The convicted gunman, John Salvi, was later found dead in prison of an apparent suicide. Before Friday, the most recent killing happened in 2009 in a Wichita, Kansas, church where Dr. George Tiller, who performed late-term abortions, was slain while serving as an usher. He had been shot in a previous attack years earlier. Planned Parenthood clinics in New Hampshire, Southern California and Washington have been targeted by vandals and arsonists since a new wave of anti-abortion protests began this summer. The campaign against Planned Parenthood has intensified since July, when anti-abortion activists who posed as representatives of a biomedical