Students in Washington state are upset after learning that their Presbyterian college promotes the abortion chain Planned Parenthood.
Charisma News reports Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington encourages students to volunteer and intern at the abortion chain, and promotes research using aborted babies’ body parts.
In a recent opinion piece for the student newspaper, student James Silberman urged the Christian university to cut ties with the abortion chain. He wrote:
Whitworth referring pregnant women to Planned Parenthood is tantamount to referring them for an abortion. There are three pregnancy-specific services provided to pregnant women by Planned Parenthood, according to Planned Parenthood data reports: prenatal care, adoption referral and abortion. In 2014-2015, 94 percent of their pregnancy related services (323,999 out of 343,422) were abortions. The organization does everything they can to steer women toward abortion by giving each of their facilities an abortion quota according to former employees. Here is former clinic director, Sue Thayer, discussing the quotas. Pictures taken at a Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Colorado indicate that facilities which exceed those quotas are given awards.
Silberman said the university hosted a community fetal tissue research event in March that promoted Planned Parenthood. The event was a direct response to the Center for Medical Progress undercover videos that showed evidence of Planned Parenthood selling aborted babies’ body parts.
“Furthermore, the event highlighted a supposed upside of abortion: using the body parts of preborn human beings for science. The event was called ‘Reflection on Precious Gifts: The Stewardship of Fetal Tissue,’” Silberman wrote.
The university Students for Life group said the college also allowed Planned Parenthood to set up a booth and recruit student volunteers at a recent school fair.
SIGN THE PETITION! Congress Must De-Fund Planned Parenthood Immediately
Katie Lodjic of Students for Life of America told One News Now that Whitworth also offers accredited internships with the abortion group.
“By partnering with Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, they are not equipping their graduates to be Christians and follow Christ,” Lodjic said.
Silberman said he approached Whitworth Associated Provost Randy Michaelis about the matter and was told that “well-meaning, thoughtful Christians disagree about a number of social issues.”
The Christian faith teaches that killing an innocent human being, created in the image of God, is wrong. This includes unborn babies, who are biologically separate, living human beings inside their mother’s womb.
However, a number of Protestant and Catholic colleges have strayed from this teaching and openly promoted abortion. For example, in 2015, Saint Mary’s College, a Catholic school in Indiana, hosted a large pro-Planned Parenthood display on campus.
In February, Students for Life reported to LifeNews that Seattle University, a Jesuit Catholic school in Washington state, had fliers posted across campus advertising an abortionist as a guest speaker on campus. Facing harsh criticism, the university later cancelled the event.
