February 8, 2016; Denver Post

When Robert Dear opened up fire on people outside of the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs on November 27th of last year, he essentially closed it for more than two months. It will reopen its doors next Monday, the 15th of February, though only a third of the clinic will be in use while the remainder is still being repaired, though full services will be provided.

The small building sustained a lot of damage between the gunman’s bullets and the response team’s vehicles; an armored personnel carrier was driven right through the clinic’s front doors, making a hole through which people were rescued during the chaos. They also felt increased security would be necessary before reopening.

The staff’s recovery continues. Vicki Cowart, CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said some may never be able to come back to work, but they want to provide time to figure that out.

“We have opened it just as quickly as we possibly could, given the damage the building sustained,” she said. “There was a fair amount of time that passed before we got the building back under our control. It was a couple of weeks at least.”

Meanwhile, the gunman, who never went inside the clinic, has since been to court, shouting, “You’ll never know what I saw in that clinic! The atrocities! That’s what they want to seal! The babies!” The incident was relatively clearly linked to the now-debunked video produced by David Daleiden, who’s now under indictment in Texas for various offenses related to his attempt to “sting” Planned Parenthood with allegations that they were selling fetal tissue.—Ruth McCambridge