Pro-Life Students Want to Defund and Shut Down Planned Parenthood

Chanting the words, “We are the pro-life generation,” college students and young activists waved their bold pink “Defund Planned Parenthood” signs in front of the Supreme Court on Friday, July 18. They came from all sorts of backgrounds. Some had grown up pro-life. Others did their own research on abortion before coming to the pro-life position. Still others saw firsthand the harm of abortion before becoming passionate advocates for the unborn.

Although SCOTUS is not currently in session, Students for Life of America, a leading pro-life advocacy group, still came out to protest in front of the Supreme Court building. They were protesting a Massachusetts judge’s temporary restraining order, which allows Planned Parenthood to continue receiving taxpayer funding for abortions. This action directly contradicts new legislation, which intentionally put an end to Medicaid-funded abortions.

President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law on July 4. Among the many policies included in the bill, one removed Medicaid funding from abortion businesses for exactly one year.

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The bill had originally intended to remove Medicaid funding from abortion businesses for 10 years, but in order for the bill to pass, it cut that timeframe down to only one. Nevertheless, just a few days later, the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, along with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, filed a lawsuit over this policy. Massachusetts District Court Judge Indira Talwani complied with Planned Parenthood’s Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction. She ordered defendants to make sure the abortion business continued to receive Medicaid funding for at least 14 days.

“Defendants, their agents, employees, appointees, successors, and anyone acting in concert or participation with Defendants shall take all steps necessary to ensure that Medicaid funding continues to be disbursed in the customary manner and timeframes to Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its members; Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts; and Planned Parenthood Association of Utah,” Talwani ordered.

Because this temporary restraining order is in direct contradiction with the newly signed law, Students for Life of America came out to protest in Washington, D.C., calling on the Supreme Court to get involved in the case and for Congress to impeach Judge Talwani.

“We are coming out to the court today to encourage the court to intervene in this, and then to call Congress to impeach rogue judges who are trying to block federal mandates that are defunding Planned Parenthood, because Planned Parenthood does not deserve our taxpayer money,” Mary Briganti, the director of leadership initiatives at Students for Life, explained to The Washington Stand. “Planned Parenthood should be defunded up to the full year as a part of the Big Beautiful Bill.”

One of the students involved with the organization, Rebecca Rose, recalled how she became involved in the movement. “I first got involved in the pro-life movement actively after touring my local pregnancy resource center. They were across the street from a Planned Parenthood. Just seeing the difference in contrast between the pregnancy resource center, with the staff that was loving and caring, providing real resources, real help and real health care, as compared to the Planned Parenthood across the street, with a staff that wasn’t concerned about providing hope or real resources or real care, made me actively pro-life.”

“I’ve been pro-life most of my life, but I really only got involved over a year ago,” explained Kyra Kishore, another member of Students for Life. “Watching a woman walk into an abortion facility was eye-opening for me, and it made me want to get involved actively in the movement.”

As the group of protesters stood outside the Supreme Court building, several passersby gave them thumbs up, shouted “thank you” to them across the street, and even took pictures with them and their signs calling to defund Planned Parenthood.

During the protest, Lydia Taylor Davis, the spokesperson for Students for Life, led the group in chants and a livestream, where she explained why they were protesting and what they hoped to accomplish.

“We are here today at the Supreme Court once again. We’re out here quite often,” Davis told TWS. “We just defunded Planned Parenthood, but there is a judge appointed by Obama in Massachusetts that’s trying to block the defunding of Planned Parenthood through the Big Beautiful Bill. This is judicial tyranny, and we’re calling on the Supreme Court to take action against this, and we’re also calling on Congress to impeach this rogue judge, because this is unacceptable. Planned Parenthood should not be getting our tax dollars. They end innocent lives and harm women, and [they] should absolutely be defunded.”

Davis used to be pro-choice until some of her high school classmates began discussing abortion. “[They] told me that foster children like my sister are better off aborted. That obviously did not sit right with me. I was sickened by that statement, so I went home. I did my research. I realized that abortion is ending a human life, both biblically and biologically, and I became pro-life.”

Once she discovered the truth about abortion, Davis felt led into the pro-life movement. She found Students for Life and started being mentored by the organization’s president, Kristan Hawkins. Now she is one of the leading voices in the pro-life movement. She goes on nationwide speaking tours, talking on college campuses about the dangers of abortion for both the women and children involved.

“Seeing all of the women that are harmed by abortion, all of the lives lost, it [breaks] my heart,” Briganti expressed. “I definitely think we need to take action, be loud, be proud as pro-life leaders, and make sure that Planned Parenthood doesn’t receive our funding, and [that] abortion is abolished in our lifetime.”

LifeNews Note: Evelyn Elliott serves as an intern at Family Research Council. 

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