Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid also said that Democrats are working on “reasonable” gun-safety proposals. | Getty Reid blames Planned Parenthood violence on 'frenzy of hate and anger'

Democrats have stepped up their defense of Planned Parenthood in the wake of last week’s shooting that killed three people at a Colorado clinic, with the top Senate Democrat Monday warning against "a frenzy of hate."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid warned elected officials against whipping up political frenzy, a veiled assault at Republican lawmakers who have been trying to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood since this summer’s release of undercover videos purporting to prove the group traffics in human tissue.


“We bring people into a frenzy of hate and anger while providing them with easy access to firearms [and it] has proven disastrous to our country,” Reid said on the Senate floor on Monday.

“We in the Senate should not fail to see the context in which this vile assault took place,” he added, pointing to the videos made by an anti-abortion group. “Since that time, the Republican Congress have made it their mission to push these unsubstantiated allegations every chance they get.” He urged lawmakers to be "mindful of our words and actions."

The Center for Medical Progress, which produced the videos, said that they proved that Planned Parenthood was trafficking in “baby parts” for profit -- an allegation that Planned Parenthood has strongly denied. The alleged gunman in last week’s attack used the same “baby parts” phrase in front of law enforcement when he was captured, according to local media.

Reid called the shooting an act of "domestic terrorism."

Democrats have long pushed back on the proposals to defund Planned Parenthood and the various congressional investigations into the group’s practices. But they have stepped up their defense since Friday's shooting.

Still, the more intense rhetoric appears unlikely to significantly change the fault lines in Congress. With few exceptions, Republicans largely want to sever federal funding for the organization and Democrats do not. Senate Republicans are on track to defund the organization for one year as part of a bill to repeal significant parts of Obamacare -- though the president would veto it. And the investigations are expected to continue.

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a prominent Planned Parenthood supporter, demanded that House Speaker Paul Ryan disband the new House select committee that was crafted to look into fetal tissue practices.

"We should not and cannot continue this politically-motivated committee targeting Planned Parenthood, which is already costing taxpayers and helping to create a dangerous climate for legal health care in America," Boxer wrote.

Rep. Marcia Blackburn (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the committee, defended its work and stressed that it is a “fact-finding mission into abortion practices and fetal tissue procurement.”

“The shootings in Colorado are deplorable. There is no place for this kind of violence in our country,” Blackburn said in a statement. “Instead of playing politics with this tragedy, maybe those on the left like Sen. Barbara Boxer should actually take the time to read the resolution establishing the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives. At no point does it mention Planned Parenthood.”

In response, Planned Parenthood executive vice president Dawn Laguens said merely, “enough is enough.”

The National Abortion Federation, a trade organization of abortion providers, has warned since the videos first came out that it was recording a sharp uptick in threats and acts of violence. “We have been quite worried that this increase in threats would lead to a violent attack like we saw,” NAF president Vicki Saporta said.

The alleged shooter Robert Lewis Dear appeared in court for the first time Monday, where he faced multiple charges for murder in the first degree. He was granted no bail. If he is found guilty, the murder charges carry a minimum of life in prison and a maximum of death.