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Thousands Rallied To Defund Planned Parenthood. This Is What They Look Like.

Erica Hellerstein
People participate in a rally at Utah Capitol Rotunda, in Salt Lake City, organized in support of Gov. Gary Herbert’s recent decision to remove the state from federal funding of Planned Parenthood. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/RICK BOWMER
People participate in a rally at Utah Capitol Rotunda, in Salt Lake City, organized in support of Gov. Gary Herbert’s recent decision to remove the state from federal funding of Planned Parenthood. CREDIT: AP PHOTO/RICK BOWMER

On Saturday, thousands of anti-abortion protestors demonstrated in front of Planned Parenthood clinics throughout the nation, calling for the defunding of one of the country’s largest health providers.

The “National Day of Protest,” planned by a coalition of anti-abortion groups at 300 locations nationwide, came a day after the Center for Medical Progress, a right-wing anti-abortion group that has employed a long-term strategy intended to discredit the health organization, released its newest video on Friday.

The group has released of number of inflammatory videos that suggest Planned Parenthood is improperly profiting from the sale of “aborted baby parts.” The video campaign has generated outrage among conservative politicians — Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) pledged to “do whatever I can to stop them and will introduce an amendment to pending Senate legislation to immediately strip every dollar of Planned Parenthood funding” — and prompted a number of states to launch investigations into the women’s health organization. State officials in Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and South Dakota have thus far been unable to prove evidence of wrongdoing: In a statement, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said she that she found “no evidence that PPLM is involved in any way in the buying or selling of tissue,” and vowed to “fight to support Planned Parenthood and preserve the essential health services that they provide to so many women.”

Still, states are moving quickly to cut the organization’s funding — and protestors are echoing those calls. On Saturday, they gathered at numerous clinics throughout the country, toting signs reading “the Holocaust of our day,” “abortion is murder,” and “a person’s a person no matter how small.” The hashtags ##PPSellsBabyParts, #ProtestPP, and #DefundPP trended on Twitter.

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Here are some of the men and women protesting the organization that provides health services to millions of women at centers nationwide.