Recently, the attack on the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic has taken Twitter by storm. Tweets were sent out celebrating the deranged man for killing innocent people. Several people stated that the shooter, Robert Lewis Dear, was a hero for killing people who were at the clinic that day because they were there for an abortion.

I’m horrified. I’m annoyed. And I have zero patience for it. If these so called ‘pro-lifers’ are applauding someone for killing three people (two civilians and an officer), then they aren’t very humane. If by their standards it is not okay for women to (legally) abort a fetus then it should not be okay for Dear to (illegally) take the lives of others.

The irony of the situation is that the officer, Garret Swasey, 44, who was killed was actually very pro-life. The other victim, Ke’Arre Stewart, 44, was an Iraqi war veteran and had a wife and two children. After he was shot he ran back inside to help others.

The women who was killed, Jennifer Markovsky, 35, was a wife and had two children. She was there accompanying a friend at the clinic. The nine other victims, five police officers and four civilians were later admitted to the hospital.

So the people at the clinic that day were mostly law enforcement officials and people who were upstanding citizens. So why are their deaths okay? Why is it okay to kill a husband and father? A wife and a mother? But it’s not okay for women to have the choice to do what they want with their bodies.  

Just as a quick reminder: three percent of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are abortions. Additionally, the federal funding given to Planned Parenthood is not used for abortions because it is illegal. Forty-one percent of the services are STD/STI testing and 10 percent is cancer screening and prevention.