TO THE EDITOR:
Let’s talk about abortion. On Monday afternoon, walking through Polk Place, I saw several signs advertising the “Planned Parenthood Project.”
I stopped and was immediately horrified by the misinformation being propagated by the Students for Life group. After seeing the rows of 915 crosses in the grass, representing the abortions that Planned Parenthood performs daily, I decided to stand with the Students United for Reproductive Justice. Students for Life: I don’t know why you chose to target Carolina with your extremely offensive and misinformed demonstration, but I would like to set the record straight on some key things.
The most egregious lie being told by Students for Life was that 92 percent of Planned Parenthood Services is abortions. In fact, only 3 percent of what they do is abortion — the rest of their funding goes toward birth control, STD screenings, pregnancy tests and other vital reproductive health services that many people would not ordinarily be able to afford.
Furthermore, because of the Hyde Amendment, federal funding does not go to abortions, except in special cases. This was a common misconception heard from passing students, though not from Students for Life.
I know and respect many people who very passionate about their anti-abortion stance. I invite them to think of it not as the death of 915 fetuses (as the crosses wrongly implied), but as 915 women who, each day, are given the freedom to choose what to do with their bodies.
Katy Protin ’14
Computer science
Mathematics
