After a deadly attack last week that left three dead and nine wounded, Planned Parenthood will rebuild and reopen its Colorado Springs office.
Vicki Cowart, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, made the pledge Wednesday evening in Albuquerque at a vigil for the women’s health provider.
“We will rebuild that building, rebuild the lives of the folks who went through that terrible afternoon,” Cowart told supporters at Albuquerque’s First Congregational United Church of Christ. “And we will open, we will continue to provide wonderful life-saving, high quality reproductive health care to our community there and across our region and across our country no matter what.”
Cowart oversees a region of Planned Parenthood clinics that includes both Colorado and New Mexico.
In an interview, Cowart said she wasn’t sure how long rebuilding the location would take. The building was Planned Parenthood’s only location in Colorado Springs, which is a little more than an hour drive south of Denver.
“We’ll be open in Colorado Springs as soon as we get our building back and are able to fix it,” she said. “So we are having to redirect people to other locations in communities around it.”
The Colorado Springs shooting, committed by Robert Dear, was the deadliest attack against an abortion provider in recorded history, according to the National Abortion Federation.
Dear reportedly told law enforcement officers “no more baby parts” after the shooting, an apparent reference to videos released by anti-abortion groups claiming to show Planned Parenthood selling aborted fetuses for money.
Planned Parenthood has denied doing any such thing, and investigations in multiple states have supported its claim.
