An alarm was triggered around 11:30 p.m. September 30 at the organization’s building, 1200 W. Hillcrest Drive. No one was inside the building at the time.
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Authorities said one of the windows was smashed in. “We are working to assess and fix the damage and will reopen our doors as quickly as possible”.
Planned Parenthood says their Thousand Oaks location sees about 7,000 patients each year.
The damage is minimal, but the target of the arson attack has detectives taking notice.
The attack comes as Planned Parenthood is facing an uphill battle ranging from accusations of its CEO’s high salary and “lavish” spending by the group to accusations that Planned Parenthood broke the law by allegedly selling fetal tissue for research. Rep. Black introduced a bill to defund Planned Parenthood.
An independent body, Fusion Global Positioning System, was commissioned to forensically analyze the recording and they concluded the footage was manipulated.
Part of a bigger controversy: Republicans are strongly campaigning to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood and its defenders contend the video was doctored and spliced to give a false and inflammatory impression. “It doesn’t feel like we’re trying to get to the truth here”, Richards said during a barrage of questions and subsequent interruptions.
Recently, Planned Parenthood has had to increase its security measures in anticipation of attacks such as this.
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They’re now directing patients to Planned Parenthood in Ventura and hope to be back open by the end of the week. “It sends a signal that using violence to close clinics and intimidate health care professionals and women is ‘OK.’ It is not”, she said in a statement.
