Jackson Free Press

The Nov. 27 shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood is a case study in the anatomy of political rhetoric and the real-life danger of spreading inciteful rhetoric.

That afternoon, a gunman, whom authorities have identified as Robert Dear, went on a rampage that left three people dead, all parents to young children. Law enforcement have not discussed a possible motive, although several media outlets reported Dear mumbled something about "no more baby parts," during an interview with law enforcement.

The meaning of Dear's words has been subject to wide speculation and likely will be for the foreseeable future.

Pundits have also wondered whether Dear's alleged actions were prompted in whole or in part by the videos that went viral in circles on the political right earlier this year. In the videos, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood's senior director of medical services, believing she is talking to officials from a company that provides scientific researchers with tissue from aborted fetuses, discusses the process of getting consent from patients, as well as how Planned Parenthood clinics typically interact with the companies that take the tissue from the clinics to the researchers.

The video figured into many political races around the country, including in Mississippi, which has one Planned Parenthood clinic in Hattiesburg, though it does not perform abortions. Dear's exact motivations are not important; the fact that we have to wonder is a testament to the power of anti-abortion rhetoric that is not only political fodder but also informs policy.

When the Mississippi Legislature passed a law in 2012 to require admitting privileges for doctors at freestanding abortion clinics, Gov. Phil Bryant and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves said the new law would bring about the end of abortion in Mississippi, where only one abortion clinic remains.

It's worth noting that the clinic in question, the Jackson Women's Health Organization, is the target of frequent protests and has a restraining order against one regular, Roy McMillan, who once told clinic employees they look like "birds on a wire waiting to be shot."

It's doesn't take six degrees to connect McMillan to the men and women who push anti-abortion policies through the state Capitol year after year. For that reason, Mississippi's Republican leadership, which has been unnervingly silent about the shootings at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood, should disavow that attack and come up with a plan to protect Mississippians from homegrown terrorism.

This is especially important considering most elected officials in this state profess to be pro-life and anti-terrorism. For example, Republican Gov. Phil Bryant recently vowed to prevent Syrian refugees from entering the state.

But the more serious threat is right here at home, and if our leadership wants to keep blood off their hands, they should end and condemn the rhetoric that fuels the actions of madmen.