Students for Life of America visited St. Thomas Friday as part of its national tour to inform students about the Planned Parenthood Project.
Angela Erickson, the Northern Regional coordinator of Students for Life of America, said numerous factors made St. Thomas a great location to hold a pro-life rally.
“St. Thomas was one of the stops on our Planned Parenthood Project tour because you guys in St. Paul have the third-largest Planned Parenthood facility in the nation,” Erickson said. “So this is a prime location, and we know that even on Catholic university campuses, women are still aborting their children.”
Erickson said that the goal of the project tour was to inform students about why Planned Parenthood promotes abortion and to provide other resources for students to use.
“The purpose of this display is to expose Planned Parenthood’s money-making agenda with regards to abortion,” Erickson said. “We know Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the nation, and they are coming to college campuses like this to promote. So we want to engage the culture and the students, that’s why we are here.”
The project was created after Students for Life polling in 2012 found that 59 percent of 18-24-year-olds were not aware that Planned Parenthood provided abortions. Its internal research also showed that 79 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are within five miles of college campuses.
The visual display on the Lower Quad featured 915 pink crosses that represent the number of abortions performed at Planned Parenthood every day. The billboards used Planned Parenthood’s own annual report numbers and state testimonies from former Planned Parenthood employees.
Sophomore Jayme Jones was one of the students involved in the demonstration and said the visual display provided good insight into Planned Parenthood’s motives.
“Planned Parenthood, the name itself, I feel like gives off this certain vibe about it that they offer more helpful services than they actually do,” Jones said. “All of the statistics you see on these boards and on these cards are from Planned Parenthood themselves; they reported it. And it’s actually quite shocking.”
Junior Acadia Stephan questioned why Students for Life in America was allowed on campus when the opposing side’s message was not present. She said she didn’t understand why this was allowed, but during presidential elections, students were asked to take down Obama posters.
“I am a proponent of allowing both sides to be out here,” Stephan said, “but if they choose to be here, I think that the opposing message or a communication of the opposite side of the message should be allowed to speak their voice as well.”
Stephan also explained why she thought Planned Parenthood’s services could be beneficial to college students.
“Personally, I know that a lot of my friends receive services from Planned Parenthood; and as students, they receive services at a price they are able to pay; and it allows them to, say, attend school. You know, nobody wants to drop out because they’re pregnant, and basically they provide STD testing, STI testing, anything to keep you healthy. I think it’s a great resource,” Stephan said.
As the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization, Students for Life of America will travel 21,861 miles to visit 26 universities in 14 states over the span of eight weeks this fall.