Report: Planned Parenthood has ties with 83 US Christian colleges and universities

A report has found that over the past year, 83 Christian colleges and universities across America, or one in 11 Christian institutions of higher education, maintained some form of relationship with Planned Parenthood, the nation’s leading abortion business.

According to the latest report from the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, a project of Students for Life of America, in 2023 Planned Parenthood ended the lives of at least 392,715 pre-born children through abortion – making its partnership with any Christian organization problematic, critics say.

The latest Demetree report found that support of Planned Parenthood among U.S. Christian schools and universities has increased by at least 10% annually since 2022. Additionally, research of the staffing at the 732 schools studied “revealed a startling number of professors with individual connections to the abortion industry, hinting at a more insidious problem brewing at Christian schools that suggests their staffing choices do not reflect the foundational values of their institutions,” noted the report. 

However, the report also found that over the past year 12 Christian schools cut their ties to the abortion industry: All told, “54 total connections have been severed since the start of this study in 2021.” 

Among the additional key findings in the 2024 Demetree report: 

• 42% of the abortion connections overall among institutions studied were Christian schools referring students to Planned Parenthood as a “health resource.” 

• “65 professors at Christian schools have a connection to the abortion industry through events or publications and 14 of those professors have been directly affiliated with abortion industry leaders like Planned Parenthood through previous employment or board positions,” the report found. 

• There was a 32% increase over the past year in Christian schools earning an “A+” grade in the report through their support of local pro-life pregnancy help centers. 

Each of the 732 Christian schools included in the 2024 report were assigned a letter grade based on the number of “infractions” it garnered through its connection to Planned Parenthood. An institution with no infractions and which also maintained a relationship with a pro-life pregnancy center received an “A+” grade, with a school’s grade being lowered based on the number of connections it had with the abortion provider, all the way to an “F” designating a failing grade. 

The report noted that one of the major infractions among the Christian schools was partnering with Planned Parenthood through the referencing of abortion as “healthcare” or a “resource.” 

“Abortion guised as ‘healthcare’ is no longer wordsmithing saved only for secular institutions, but lingo adopted by dozens of Christian schools,” the report explained. “In fact, at Christian colleges and universities, the most frequent infraction was Planned Parenthood appearing as a ‘health resource.’ Almost half (42%) of all documented infractions promoted Planned Parenthood to students by listing the abortion vendor as a ‘reliable and trusted health resource’ either from the school health center’s landing page directly or within a linked document of local resources.” 

Schools upgrading their ratings in the report from a “B” to an “A” by removing Planned Parenthood as a “health resource” or a “parenting resource” included Hawaii’s Chaminade University and Felician University in New Jersey. Similarly, High Point University in North Carolina raised its rating from “B” to “A” by removing an honoree with ties to Planned Parenthood. 

Among the 58 schools receiving an “A+” grade in 2024 were Michigan’s Hillsdale College, Wheaton College in Illinois, Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Wisconsin’s Marquette University. Additionally, a total of 591 colleges and universities receiving an “A” grade, including Baylor University in Waco, Texas, Kentucky’s Asbury University, Bob Jones University in South Carolina, Utah’s Brigham Young University, and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. 

By contrast, a total of 24 schools received a grade of “F” for having four or more Planned Parenthood connections, including St. Olaf College, Augsburg University, Gustavus Adolphus College, and Macalester College, all in Minnesota, Boston University in Massachusetts, American University in Washington, D.C., Wisconsin’s Carroll University, Washington State’s Pacific Lutheran University, Texas Christian University, and North Carolina’s Duke University. 

The Institute for Pro-Life Advancement, which is responsible for the study, notes on its website that it is “committed to researching the best ways to communicate our philosophically and scientifically sound opposition to abortion in order to win this generation to our anti-abortion movement.” 

In the Demetree report, the group noted: “If the pro-life movement wishes to change the entire landscape of higher education in the United States to become life-affirming, it is essential to start with religious schools that already should align with the Christian belief that all life is valuable and worthy of protection.”