Walking through Free Speech Plaza, students encounter a range of sights, from street preachers to the monthly farmer’s market. Another common occurrence is the various groups of University organizations tabling for their individual causes.
Students can find the University’s Planned Parenthood organization and Pro-Life LSU offering information to students about two belief systems that range the spectrum on reproductive rights.
While the two student organizations hold different ideals, they’re similar in that they both support and advocate for their respective causes.
“We give out just general health information,” Abby Hogan, vice president of the LSU Planned Parenthood chapter says. “It’s a lot of information you don’t see a lot of on campus, but information people still need to know.”
Composed of members from all areas of campus, the University Planned Parenthood’s main goal is to educate students on sexual health. For instance, every week the group holds “Free Condom Friday” in Free Speech Plaza where club members hand out condoms and discuss safe sex with students.
“We want to promote safe sex and to show that this organization isn’t what most people think it is,” Planned Parenthood member and mass communication junior Mackenzie Godso says. “It’s mainly about promoting safety … and letting them know that there’s so many other services that [Planned Parenthood] offer[s] rather than the one hot-topic that people think of.”
Few organizations had quite as much at stake in November’s presidential election as Planned Parenthood did. With President Donald Trump’s victory creating a Republican-dominated government, the defunding of Planned Parenthood could quickly turn into a reality.
“When people say they want to defund Planned Parenthood, what they’re saying is that they want to cut off the ability for Planned Parenthood to work with Medicaid,” Sarah Guidry, former Planned Parenthood president says.
“Since Planned Parenthood is for low income people, many of them are using Medicaid. Essentially, it would block the ability for people in need to use Planned Parenthood and eventually Planned Parenthood would have no purpose.”
Although its main goal is to educate, the organization is still seeing effects from defunding. Hogan says it’s been more difficult for the club to obtain condoms. Now, the students have been buying their own supply to distribute, whereas previously they were delivered.
Time Magazine recently reported 40 percent of Planned Parenthood’s revenue comes from government funding through it offering services like mammograms, STD testing and birth control to Medicaid patients.
While federal law currently prohibits the use of government funding for abortions, there has been talk of pushing through legislation to defund the organization anyway, especially from House Speaker Paul Ryan. In late January, President Trump signed an executive order which reinstated the “global gag rule,” halting U.S. foreign aid to nongovernmental organizations which offer or discuss abortion with its patients.
Planned Parenthood is combating the threat of defunding by focusing on student outreach to recruit new members.
“There’s no way to pretend that this political stance doesn’t have a spectrum to it,” Guidry says. “The best thing is [to] attack the stigma. There’s people who don’t want to talk about abortion but there’s no reason to run away from it. Don’t let the stigma define the movement.”
Kara Tucker, sociology junior and vice president of Pro-Life LSU says there is more to the organization than protesting outside of abortion clinics in the name of Catholicism.
“We mainly want to educate people,” Tucker explains. “We don’t want to scream at people outside of Planned Parenthood. We’re about love and compassion.”
Rather than focusing on the religious aspect of abortion, the organization is taking more of a biological stance, former Pro-Life LSU President and biology senior Rachel Anderson says.
Anderson says the club uses the same anatomy and biology textbook that the University uses when tabling to show the fetus is scientifically considered human.
Like Planned Parenthood, Pro-Life LSU emphasizes education. However, the club also focuses on helping student mothers on campus. The club hosts a baby clothes program where they continuously donate clothes, diapers, bottles and other necessities to the students.
“We just try to help in whatever way we can,” Tucker says. “I think the best way you can be pro-life is to empower women to choose life.”
The club works to lessen the strain on student mothers so they can accomplish all their goals after having children, Anderson says. Because of the club’s efforts, the University recently installed lactation rooms and is currently working to implement diaper decks in restrooms on campus.
This organization stays active in the University community to show students what they can offer: education and assistance.
“I don’t think it’s acceptable to just say ‘no, you can’t have an abortion,’ especially since most abortions stem from a crisis-type situation,” Tucker says.
“Just like any cause we’re defined by our most radical members, but we really do care. This isn’t about judgment. This isn’t about criticizing women and putting them down.”
For more information on Planned Parenthood, head to Facebook.com/ppgalsu. For more information on Pro-Life LSU, visit Facebook.com/Pro-Life-LSU.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Photo by Kaitlyn Graff

Jack Stallard, a member of the University's Planned Parenthood organization, hands a student condoms Feb. 10, 2017 during Free Condom Friday in Free Speech Plaza.