On one line, pink signs in support. On the other, flyers and pro-life posters.
That was the scene Wednesday as Planned Parenthood supporters and pro-life counter protesters faced off outside the University of Idaho Library.
Besides some verbal comments, the interaction between Planned Parenthood supporters and pro-life counter protesters stayed peaceful, with each group holding up their respective signs.
Chelsea Butler, an organizer with the Planned Parenthood rally, said pro-Planned Parenthood demonstrators stood in support of the organization and the reproductive health services it provides to the community. She said Planned Parenthood offers contraceptive care, cancer screenings and STI treatment and screenings.
Butler said the pro-Planned Parenthood demonstrators also stood in support of the Pullman Planned Parenthood clinic, which was damaged by arson in September.
Butler said the large majority of Planned Parenthood”s services do not go to abortion, and contraceptives make up for 34 percent of the organization”s health services.
“The issue here is not abortion – it”s already legal,” Butler said, mentioning that abortion services only make up 3 percent of Planned Parenthood”s health services.
To counter-protester Rachel Lambert, one abortion is one too many.
Lambert, a freshman at New Saint Andrews College, said she came out Wednesday to show Moscow there are pro-life people on the Palouse. She said she would like to see Planned Parenthood defunded and shut down because of the abortion services it offers.
“Planned Parenthood is not the hero, mothers who choose life are,” Lambert said.
Lambert said she was the product of rape. While her birth mother gave her up for adoption, abortion was an option to her birth mother at that time, she said.
David Betts | Argonaut
Chelsea Butler helped organize a rally in support of Planned Parenthood on the University of Idaho’s campus Wednesday afternoon.
“And my birth mother choose life, and I”m exceedingly grateful for that,” Lambert said.
During the first half of the demonstration she said she was also impressed there were more counter protesters at the rally than pro-Planned Parenthood supporters.
Lambert said even though Planned Parenthood offers other services, the fact they provide abortion services is inexcusable. She said people need to think of a baby as a living life, instead of a vague reality.
While a large part of the rally was in silent support, Butler said the rally did have a speech component where students could say why they felt passionately about Planned Parenthood.
Butler said Planned Parenthood offers an affordable healthcare option to many groups, including minorities, members of the LGBTQ community and lower-income citizens.
She said the push to defund the organization was a direct attack on women”s rights.
UI student Miriam Hernandez said Planned Parenthood is a safe option for women who do need an abortion, instead of other more dangerous options. She said the organization offers a welcoming environment to women in need of reproductive healthcare.
“Without it, you just feel like you”re alone,” Hernandez said.
Following the arson at the Pullman clinic, Hernandez said she hoped there would be more uproar over the crime. Instead, she said people didn”t seem to care all that much.
David Betts | Argonaut
Students showed up Wednesday afternoon on University of Idaho’s campus to show their support for, or protest, Planned Parenthood.
“I was just in disbelief,” Hernandez said of hearing the news of the clinic fire.
Gabriela Portillo, director of the Students for Life at UI, protested Planned Parenthood at the rally. She said Planned Parenthood does not support women through its abortion services.
Portillo discussed the controversy that surrounds Planned Parenthood”s statistic that abortions only make up 3 percent of their health services.
Even if the rate were lower, Portillo said Planned Parenthood needs to stop its abortion services.
Ryan Tarinelli can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ryantarinelli