Planned Parenthood supporters to continue rallies in spite of fear, worry

The Black Friday shootings put the abortion debate front and center across the country.

“I just felt grief, just pure grief,” Planned Parenthood supporter Terry Miles said when she learned of the attack on the Colorado Springs clinic Friday afternoon.

Miles comes to Planned Parenthood several times a year to rally in support of the clinic, its employees and fellow women who receive care.

“I felt like it was on not just Planned Parenthood and the poor people who got killed here, but it was an attack on me as a woman, a supporter and as an activist,” Miles said.

Miles relied heavily on Planned Parenthood as a young woman.

“I came from a poor background, and they were the only people who could be there for me,” Miles recalled. “I couldn’t afford to go to doctors.”

As strongly as Miles feels, Focus On the Family, is on the other side arguing the pro-life movement cannot be affected by what happened.

“The pro-life movement will continue to do what it’s always done, to give women options and to witness the value of life,” Focus On the Family Vice President of Government and Public Policy Carrie Gordon Earll said.

“There has been a strong and vocal pro-life voice in this country for years,” Gordon Earll said. “We shouldn’t be shutting down part of the civil dialogue because there’s been a tragedy like this,” Gordon Earll said.

“It’s about choice,” Planned Parenthood supporter Irene Luckett said. “We are going to defend women’s right to choose, without interference from the government or other people. It’s between her, her doctor and her family.”

Miles wants Robert Dear brought up on federal charges.

“It was a domestic terrorist attack on women, basically,” Miles said.

A vast majority of the services Planned Parenthood provides are not abortion- related and the clinics don’t get federal funding for abortion.