What ardent supporters of Planned Parenthood like Andy Richter fail to see is how little sense this makes, both philosophically and practically. Generally speaking, conservatives—who are not the same as loner nutjobs who have identified with liberal, independent, and conservative groups—unequivocally condemn and oppose violence and the ending of innocent life at any age, for any reason, in any location, by any means. Why? It’s the only consistent position to take.

Planned Parenthood advocates, in all your righteous indignation, how exactly would you justify moral outrage over a gunman brandishing his weapon at abortionists as they butcher babies? Yet if the shooter’s actions are reprehensible—and let’s again make clear that murder obviously is—what makes them so different? Motive? Legal sanction?

If the person who dies is gestationally 26 weeks old (the latest-term abortion allowed in Colorado—when, by the way, an infant can survive and thrive outside the womb with proper medical care), what’s the moral and philosophical difference between that person and 44-year-old police officer Garret Swasey, the pro-life, churchgoing husband and father who was one of the victims of this crime?