Robert Lewis Dear, the 57 year old accused of the murder of three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado made his first appearance in court on Monday.

He is being held on suspicion of first degree murder with the maximum penalty of death upon conviction, and a minimum of life in prison. The next hearing for Dear will be the 9th of December.

Garrett Swasey, Jennifer Markovsky and Ke'Arre Stewart were all killed in the shooting last Friday. Swasey was a police officer called to the shooting, and Stewart and Markovsky had accompanied friends to their appointments. (ABC)

The clinic where the shooting took place (Source - New York Magazine)

According to CNN: 'Dear mentioned "baby parts" after the shooting and expressed anti-abortion and anti-government views, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said.Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, was clear that she believes the shooter "was motivated by opposition to safe and legal abortion."'

This shooting comes as many pro-life organisations and individuals have spoken of their wish to remove government funding from Planned Parenthood, which as well as providing safe and legal abortions, also offers sexual health testing, birth control and other services.

Many people online have been offering their support to the organisation, citing the important service it carries out using the hashtag #IStandwithPP.

Every time shit like this happens, john and I immediately make another donation to planned parenthood.

— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) November 27, 2015

When family planning clinics feel the need to store bullet proof vests, trust us when we say there's a war on women. #IStandWithPP #EndVAW

— Catrin Cooper (@catrincooper) November 28, 2015

#IStandWithPP because they provide abortions pic.twitter.com/OxQKsOP2aX — Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) November 30, 2015

(Main Image - NBCNews)