A group campaigning to defund Planned Parenthood came to Grounds Wednesday as a part of the Hoos for Life rally.
Calls for defunding Planned Parenthood have escalated in recent months following the release of hidden-camera videos of Planned Parenthood officials by an anti-abortion group.
The Planned Parenthood Project is part of the national organization Students for Life. The University is one of five colleges the pro-life groups plan to visit during a week-long bus tour.
The groups plan to visit over 80 colleges around the country by the middle of November.
The event included multiple government speakers including: Sen. Mark Obenshain, Sen. Jill Vogel and Sen. Steve Newman.
Small pink crosses were planted in the grass at the amphitheater to represent the 897 abortions advocates say Planned Parenthood carries out each day. Supporters of the campaign also signed the Planned Parenthood Project bus to show their support.
University Democrats President Porter Koolman, a fourth-year College student, said that he and his organization are frustrated by the claims being made. All funds used by Planned Parenthood for abortion services come from private donations as opposed to taxpayer funds, a change in effect since 1976, Koolman said.
“Taking taxpayer dollars away from Planned Parenthood doesn’t affect their ability at all to hand out abortions,” Koolman said. “What it does do is it takes away the screenings, and pre-family planning, and the birth control access, and general medical access for millions of people in America — men and women.”
Arina Grossu, director for the Center for Human Dignity in the Family Research Council was one of the Planned Parenthood Project’s representatives on Grounds.
“The purpose is to let college students know how Planned Parenthood is exploiting them,” Grossu said. “Eighty percent of Planned Parenthood [facilities] are within five miles of a college campus. This is their target demographic.”
The campaign also takes issue with Planned Parenthood’s image as a women’s health organization. Planned Parenthood is the primary abortion provider in the United States, and has been dropping their other services, Grossau said.
“We want students to know that their main focus is to provide abortions and that they aren’t really interested in women’s health outside of that,” Grossau said.
Planned Parenthood funding could be redirected to other health services, Grossau said.
Hoos for Life coordinates peaceful protests outside the Planned Parenthood on Charlottesville’s Hydraulic Road each Friday morning, said Hoos for Life President Katharine Britton, a third-year in the College.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that state representatives Sen. Mark Obenshain, Sen. Jill Vogel, Sen. Bryce Reeves and Sen. Steve Newman spoke at the event. These officials neither attended nor spoke at the event.
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