In light of the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado, many Planned Parenthood supporters are afraid for the future. Some even fear being attacked for outwardly supporting the organization.
Sarah Guidry, president of Planned Parenthood Generation Action at LSU, said she was on Twitter the night of the shooting, hoping things weren’t as bad as they seemed.
“I was hoping that it wasn’t an issue of targeting Planned Parenthood,” Guidry said. “Now we know that it was, and over a dozen people were hospitalized and three people died because of someone who had an issue with what Planned Parenthood does.”
While she was devastated by what happened, Guidry said she isn’t scared for her safety.
“I’m not really scared just because I know how important our work is.”
Guidry believes the shooting yet again proves this importance, and it motivates her to continue supporting Planned Parenthood.
“Just the fact that it happened means that there is a bit of a culture issue around the things that Planned Parenthood does. So that just motivates me to educate people, to show people what Planned Parenthood is actually all about.”
Despite clinic violence around the country, Guidry does not expect to make any major changes. While she will consider different ways to protect her organization and its members, she believes they are relatively safe at LSU.
“In our own environment, [we] have never come across even anything threatening,” Guidry said. “So for us personally as a student group, I don’t think it would be necessary.”
LSU’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action is partnered with the Planned Parenthood office in Baton Rouge. Guidry said she cannot speak on behalf of the clinic and how they will react to this act of violence. She did explain, however, that the clinic is closely partnered with the Baton Rouge Police Department.
In the future, Guidry hopes people will better understand what Planned Parenthood does as a whole rather than focusing on the abortion aspect of the clinics. She wants people to remember violence is never the answer.
“If you need violence to push your agenda, then it’s not any sort of agenda that should be accepted by mainstream society,” Guidry said.