Pro-life advocate charged in shooting near S.C. Planned Parenthood facility

Police in Columbia, S.C., charged Mark Baumgartner in connection with a shooting near a local Planned Parenthood, they said on Tuesday. He was detained at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center on charges of aggravated assault and battery, as well as possession of a weapon during a violent crime. Baumgartner on Nov. 14 non-fatally shot a man near the Planned Parenthood following an argument between the two that turned physical, police said. He is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.

Baumgartner is the founder and executive director of A Moment of Hope, a pro-life organization that offers abortion alternatives and ultrasounds to women outside abortion centers. On Nov. 14, he allegedly pepper-sprayed a man, then fired a single shot at the man after the two struggled with one another in a parking lot next to the abortion facility, according to FitsNews. 

What have Baumgartner’s supporters had to say? A friend of Baumgartner told WORLD in an email that she believed he was attacked first and fired in self-defense.

How did Planned Parenthood react? Planned Parenthood in a statement thanked officers for what the organization described as their thorough response. The organization called gun violence a public health epidemic while at the same time referring to abortion as compassionate care.

Dig deeper: Read Liz Lykins’ report on the reinstatement of North Dakota’s strongly pro-life law.