Second Planned Parenthood Hit By Arson In A Month. Those Videos Are Working!

Yes, yes, it's from Fahrenheit 451, just roll with it

Looks like the anti-Planned Parenthood hysteria is inspiring some fine Americans to make the world a safer place for fetuses by taking direct action. In Thousand Oaks, California, somebody tried to burn down a Planned Parenthood clinic. While initial reports from the Ventura County Sheriff's office only called the overnight fire "suspicious," by midday Thursday, investigators had determined that it was arson. No one was injured in the fire, which was put out by the building's sprinkler system.

Ventura County sheriff’s Capt. John Reilly said someone likely used a rock to shatter a window at the Planned Parenthood facility in the 1200 block of West Hillcrest Drive, then threw gasoline inside the office and ignited it.

The attack comes more than six weeks after the office was vandalized, he said. Details about the vandalism were not immediately available, but Reilly said it was minor.

No threats were phoned in to Planned Parenthood before the fire; investigators are reviewing the building's security tapes.

The fire is the second arson within a month at a Planned Parenthood office; on Sept. 4, a clinic in Pullman, Washington, was extensively damaged by a fire that was determined to be arson. That clinic is likely to be closed for over a month. In the meantime, Planned Parenthood opened a temporary clinic to serve customers in mid-September. The Pullman Planned Parenthood office did not perform abortions -- not that distinctions like that tend to matter to "pro-life" extremists who are perfectly fine with endangering firefighters' lives.

Hey, there's a new wrinkle on the Kim Davis case! Maybe the next Great Christian Martyr will turn out to be a Christian firefighter who refuses to put out fires at Planned Parenthood clinics because Jesus says to let 'em burn. Just imagine the bigot dollars THAT could raise!

In addition to the fires in California and Washington, clinics in Illinois and Louisiana were also hit by suspicious fires prior to the Pullman clinic's burning:  a car fire set at a new clinic under construction in New Orleans on Aug. 1, and a fire set outside the front door of a clinic in Aurora, Illinois. Following the Washington fire, David Daleiden, the guy behind the series of videos claiming that Planned Parenthood is engaged in selling Baby-Part Sampler Plates for profit to medical researchers, blandly reassured The Daily Beast that heaven's no, he would just HATE for anyone to take the law into their own hands and burn down a Murder Office:

“The Center for Medical Progress does not support vigilante violence against abortion providers, and I would just echo what Planned Parenthood said in that we're grateful no one was injured.”

Daleiden added that his “thoughts and prayers” are with some of the people at Planned Parenthood whom he still considers friends.

On the other hand, Daleiden's allies at Operation Rescue, which provides financial assistance and consulting to CMP, are a bit more ambivalent. While formally condemning violence, Operation Rescue had no problem giving a job as senior policy advisor to Cheryl Sullenger, who did two years in federal prison after conspiring to bomb an abortion provider in San Diego in the 1980s. She has since decided that violence is bad, so it's no big deal.

An FBI assessment released Sept. 18 warned that attacks and threats toward reproductive healthcare facilities and their workers have been increasing since the CMP videos were released in July:

[Federal] investigators have reported nine criminal or suspicious incidents at reproductive health centers across the country, which included cyberattacks, threats and arson. The FBI believes the incidents were “consistent with the actions of lone offenders using tactics of arsons and threats all of which are typical of the pro-life extremist movement[.]”

Not that Americans have to worry about more of this idiocy happening. As we all know, rightwing extremism is almost nonexistent, and every time a report suggests that maybe there's a problem with it, Wingnut America buys some more guns and starts calling for a new civil war. 

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We know that Yr Wonkette is always asking you for money, because we need it, but if you have a few extra bucks this month, it couldn't hurt to throw a few of them Planned Parenthood's way. 

[ LA Times via RawStory / Guardian / Spokane Spokesman-Review / International Business Times / Daily Beast ]