Thousands of pro-life activists protested hundreds of Planned Parenthood locations nationwide Saturday, but organizers with Planned Parenthood Action launched a massive counter-protest, according to a Sunday report from Reuters.
The anti-abortion groups targeted 225 clinics, and the pro-Planned Parenthood group staged 150 protests near the protests. At times, the pro-Planned Parenthood demonstrations actually drew greater numbers than the original protests, according to the report.
“We expected that tens of thousands of pro-lifers will be out today sending a message that we want Planned Parenthood to be defunded,” Director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society Monica Miller told Reuters. “As long as they are going stay in the abortion business, that is an organization that shouldn’t be getting one red cent of federal tax money.”
Protesters gathered outside nearly a quarter of the 650 offices Planned Parenthood operates around the country. The huge showing created massive showdowns in cities like Atlanta, where competing protesters occupied opposing sides of a four-lane highway, shouting slogans at each other.
Pro-life protesters are trying to make their voice heard in Washington, D.C. capitalizing on what they feel is an administration that will likely take steps to stop federal funding to the organization.
“We finally have someone in the White House who has the power and authority to save and defend lives,” protester Margie Sznajder told Reuters.
But pro-PP organizers hope that message is interrupted by the large number of crowds voicing their approval of Planned Parenthood.
“Saturday, and every day, Planned Parenthood advocates and activists show that they refuse to be intimidated and they won’t back down,” activist Kelley Robinson said in a statement.
The national protests are an extension of the huge protests in Washington, D.C. The so-called Women’s March on Washington showed hundreds of thousands of women who support Planned Parenthood in late January, and the March for Life one week later revealed there are hundreds of thousands of pro-life women who are equally willing to make their voice heard on the national stage.
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