Over 100 Christian colleges have ties to Planned Parenthood: report
A new report reveals that more than 100 Christian colleges and universities in the United States have had ties to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business, in the past two years.
The Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, a project of the pro-life group Students for Life of America, released a report detailing Planned Parenthood’s relationship with Christian Colleges & Universities in the U.S. over the past two years. Specifically, the report, released last month, analyzed all 784 colleges and universities in the U.S. that are affiliated with a Christian church, finding that 103 of the colleges had some type of relationship with Planned Parenthood.
The report is part of SFLA’s Christian Schools Project, designed to “raise public awareness of Christian schools maintaining relationships with Planned Parenthood in order to encourage infracting schools to restore their Christian values by cutting ties with the abortion giant.”
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According to the report, a relationship with Planned Parenthood “represents an endorsement of abortion violence and an alarming departure from the Christian tradition and biblical values.” In addition to the report, SFLA published a detailed document providing evidence of the schools’ relationships with Planned Parenthood.
In the report, schools received a grade on a scale from A+ to F based on the degree of their respective relationships with Planned Parenthood. Schools with four or more “infractions” received an F, while schools with no infractions received an A. A letter grade was docked for each additional infraction up to four. Schools that took the added step of promoting pro-life pregnancy centers as an alternative to Planned Parenthood were awarded an A+.
The research conducted by Students for Life of America revealed that the promotion of Planned Parenthood as a student resource constituted 56% of all infractions. For example, Trinity Washington University, a Catholic school in Washington, D.C., includes Planned Parenthood as a “Women’s Health” resource on its website. The Presbyterian-affiliated Illinois College lists Planned Parenthood as an example of where students can put their gender and women’s studies degrees into practice.
An additional 31% of infractions arose from schools’ listing of Planned Parenthood as an active internship opportunity where students can receive course credit. The report cited Luther College, a Lutheran institution located in Iowa, as an example of a Christian school allowing students to intern at Planned Parenthood.
The remaining types of infractions were partnering with Planned Parenthood for at least one event in the preceding year (6%), listing the abortion provider as an example of a future career opportunity (4%), touting the organization as a volunteer opportunity (2%) and advertising Planned Parenthood events on the school website (1%).
Of the 103 schools with at least one infraction, 22% received an F rating, 20% received a D rating, 19% received a C rating, and a plurality (39%) received a B rating. Schools that received an F rating, indicating a “committed relationship” with Planned Parenthood, included Duke University, associated with the United Methodist Church, and Emory University, affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Duke lists Planned Parenthood as an option for “family planning services,” advertised the position of public affairs intern at the abortion provider, and includes a “web exhibit” of Planned Parenthood featuring links to its social media accounts and website.
Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health includes Planned Parenthood as a resource, and the nearby Planned Parenthood of Atlanta serves as a rotation site for medical students studying gynecology.
The 27 schools with F ratings were primarily affiliated with Protestant denominations. Only one Catholic school, St. Michael’s College in Vermont, received the lowest possible rating. Three prominent Catholic schools, Marymount University, Sacred Heart University and St. John Fisher College, received D ratings, along with 12 schools affiliated with Protestant denominations.
Thirteen schools, all affiliated with Protestant denominations, received a grade of C. Baylor University, a prominent Baptist school in Texas, received a B rating, as did the Washington, D.C.-based American University, which is affiliated with the Methodist Church. The overwhelming majority of Christian schools examined (666) received a grade of A.
Methodist-affiliated schools accounted for a little under one-third of the share of Christian schools with a grade of B or lower, followed by 15 Presbyterian-affiliated schools, 14 Lutheran-affiliated schools, eight Catholic schools and two schools affiliated with the Disciples of Christ. Schools affiliated with the Episcopal Church, the Church of the Brethren, the Moravian Church, the Reformed Church in America and the United Church of Christ accounted for one infracted school apiece.
Arizona Christian University, home to the Cultural Research Center that conducts polling and analysis of the state of American culture and the beliefs of Americans, the non-denominational Hillsdale College, the notable evangelical institutions Liberty University and Regent University, and the Catholic Church-affiliated Villanova University are among the 49 schools with A+ ratings.
While 69 Christian schools had a grade lower than A at the time of the report’s publication, an additional 34 schools were also determined to have infractions. However, these schools ultimately severed their relationships with Planned Parenthood after Students for Life of America reached out to them.
Fordham University, Georgetown University, Loyola University and the University of Notre Dame were among the schools that “took Planned Parenthood off their websites and broke ties with the abortion giant after being notified of the relationship on their websites.” All four schools now find themselves among the group of A-rated institutions.
The SFLA report also cites Planned Parenthood’s annual report, which states that the organization performed 354,871 abortions in 2020, before lamenting that the abortion provider had developed relationships with “schools that identify as Christian institutions, despite the fact that scripture and Christian tradition are soundly anti-abortion.” In a statement announcing the project earlier this year, SFLA President Kristan Hawkins slammed the “unholy partnership between a number of Christian schools and the abortion industry.”
“It is crucial that colleges and universities that claim an affiliation with the Christian faith and biblical values do not contradict those values by partnering with or promoting perpetrators of abortion violence,” she added.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
