Following the Planned Parenthood shooting in Colorado, a quintet of local supporters gathered on the Capitol steps to express outrage over attacks on the family planning organization.
"We're filled with grief and rage and commitment after the mass murder in Colorado on Friday," said Sue Gibson with the National Organization for Women, who also organized the rally.
Planned Parenthood has been under national scrutiny since videos - debated as heavily edited - depicted officials allegedly discussing the sale of fetal parts. The footage, released by the conservative Center for Medical Progress, has sparked conversations about Planned Parenthood funding and investigations into abortion facilities.
Gibson said the recent shooting rampage, which killed a police officer, an Iraq War veteran and mother of two, is not the first, and it made her think of the "terror that providers live with every day when they go to work."
"We know that there are people who have an extreme reaction and have easy access to guns and will carry it out," she said. "They're inflamed by the rhetoric of the legislature, and they have to own up to the responsibility for this."
In Missouri, the legislators established the Senate Interim Committee on the Sanctity of Life, chaired by state Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, to review facilities in the state for any wrongdoing. The University of Missouri discontinued the privileges of an abortion-performing physician at the Columbia Planned Parenthood, but a federal judge temporarily prevented the state health department from taking away the facility's abortion license on Monday.
These events came after heated committee hearings between university officials, Planned Parenthood and conservative legislators. Michelle Trupiano, a former manager of government affairs for Planned Parenthood affiliates in Missouri, gave a speech at the rally, and conservative politicians are prioritizing scoring political points with their party over women's health care.
"From Washington, D.C., to right here in Jefferson City, the poisonous rhetoric that politicians spew not only creates a hostile environment but they are also creating policies that are endangering women and men across the country," she said.
Though five attended the rally, Trupiano said they represented the thousands standing with Planned Parenthood and those who access its services.
"Providers stand strong each and every day if anyone needs (care), regardless of income, gender, race, ethnicity or religion," she said. "They brave the protest lines, endure the insults and harassment, and push fear into the back of their minds because they care - no matter what. No one should have to fear for their life for accessing health care services and no one should have to go to work fear for their physical safety, but the brave women and men do so every day, because they care no matter what."