The Numbers
- 4,665,000 people worldwide provided with sexual and reproductive health care and education by Planned Parenthood each year
- About 515,000 unintended pregnancies averted by contraceptive services each year
Source: Planned Parenthood
University Green was filled with 915 crosses Wednesday by Ball State's chapter of Students for Life of America to represent the number of abortions Planned Parenthood does each day.
Planned Parenthood performed 333,964 abortions in 2011 and 327,166 abortions in 2012, according to the Planned Parenthood Annual Report.
Ball State is one of the 26 universities the Students for Life of America is demonstrating at over the next eight weeks.
“We’re simply trying to educate students that Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the country,” said SFLA Regional Coordinator RJ McVeigh. “I think Planned Parenthood has done a good job at branding themselves, and I don’t think they want to be seen as the largest abortion provider so they try to shy away from that.”
There is one clinic in Muncie that serves 4,143 patients, according to Planned Parenthood. In Indiana, four Planned Parenthood clinics provide abortions, not including the Muncie location.
Planned Parenthood declined to comment because they weren't present at the protest.
"We are a trusted health care provider, an informed educator, a passionate advocate and a global partner helping similar organizations around the world," according to their website. "Planned Parenthood delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education and information to millions of women, men and young people worldwide."
According to the flyers SFLA passed out and Planned Parenthood's reports, 92 percent of Planned Parenthood's services for pregnant women were abortions in 2011. However, abortions only made up three percent of the organization's total services in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
Last year, another anti-abortion group protested with graphic photos on campus which resulted in several Ball State offices re-examining the rules and regulations for protesting on campus. SFLA wants to make sure students know they aren’t affiliated with that group, nor do they condone their tactics.
“In my opinion, this should be the least controversial display that a pro-life group might do because we are just presenting from a report from Planned Parenthood,” McVeigh said.
CJ Denning, a senior and member of SFLA, said she wanted to show students her organization is peaceful.
“We don’t want to cause any trouble; we just want to educate students with this project specifically on Planned Parenthood that they do provide abortions," Denning said. "We just want to get people talking and think about things.”
According to the flyers, Planned Parenthood receives $542 million from government funding and $150 million from abortions. Although the reports confirm the amount of government funds, they do not mention the amount of abortion revenue they receive.
Lauren Schrader, a freshman and anti-abortion activist, thought the display was confusing to by-passers. She said the large signs with The Planned Parenthood Project on them lead people to believe that Planned Parenthood was putting on the display.
Nora Hopf, a freshman member of SFLA, said there are other places to go for help besides Planned Parenthood.
“I want them to know that, even though they might be going through troubles, there is always someone here to help them and provide them safety," Hopf said. "All of us students care about them, and I’d want them to come to us to get other outlets besides Planned Parenthood."
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