Protestors: Planned Parenthood offers array of benefits

Big, pink signs hung outside Wilson Library on Tuesday along with bunches of balloons to promote the benefits of Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood offers a variety of resources to young people, including STI screenings, vaccines and birth control, according to a flyer handed out by demonstrators.

“Personally, I feel attacked and unsafe when UNC administration and student organizations bring anti-choice groups and anti-choice slander campaigns to campus,” said Jennifer Myers, co-chairperson of Students United for Reproductive Justice.

Several UNC student organizations, including SURJ, Feminist Students United and Carolina Advocating for Gender Equality, hosted the event, which coincided with the presence of a mobile anti-abortion bus demonstration on campus.

Myers said the groups came together to promote bodily autonomy and access to health care.

“Planned Parenthood offers a lot of different health services, and as college students, these are things that we access frequently,” SURJ co-chairperson Serena Ajbani said Tuesday.

Students at the demonstration handed out condoms and fact sheets about Planned Parenthood.

“I’m concerned for safety on campus and the fact that there’s an anti-choice slander group allowed to be protesting,” Myers said.

Senior Stephanie Tepper said she wanted to make sure the support demonstration stayed positive so students felt safe on campus.

“I know that in the past, other groups have come, and it has been very triggering and creates an unsafe environment on campus. I was really excited when I heard other students wanted to create a positive counterprotest,” she said.

Tepper said the goal of the demonstration was to show the other side of the story by promoting the importance of Planned Parenthood.

“We’re absolutely just trying to make people feel safe in this space and let people know about the rights people have and the choices they have,” said Rachel Allen, co-chairperson of Carolina Advocating for Gender Equality.

Ajbani said protests against Planned Parenthood could be harmful to students who see the bus on the way to class.

“The fact that if someone walking around on campus has had an abortion, and there is a group that is publicly shaming people for having abortions, that can really interfere with education,” Ajbani said.

Sophomore Emily Goldstein said she attended the demonstration to promote the safety of all students.

“It isn’t even a matter of someone who’s for or against abortion,” she said. “This is really a matter of students understanding the resources that Planned Parenthood and other health services can provide for them.”

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