In a now-deleted tweet, a Catholic university in Wisconsin commended a student for working at a “health clinic.” The Planned Parenthood logos were easily visible on the clothing of those pictured in the photo.
“Why we stay home,” reads the tweet posted by Marquette University. In a photo of four women wearing face masks, the rest of the post reads, “working with colleagues in a health clinic in downtown Milwaukee.” Included were the hashtags #BeTheDifference and #WeAreMarquette.
While the post seemed to imply the Marquette graduate was assisting with COVID-19 relief efforts, but she was actually working at Planned Parenthood. Most clinics run by the corporation have suspended their limited healthcare services, and have focused solely on providing abortions during the pandemic.
After facing backlash, Marquette deleted the tweet, but the university has yet to release a comment on the controversy. Critics of the post pointed to the school’s religious identity, citing its website which claims a “Catholic and Jesuit education at Marquette is marked by the active intersection of the Gospel with culture and the intellect, as well as a deep commitment to the well-being of the whole human family.”
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life said in a statement regarding the incident, “Christian universities have a unique mission to ensure their students understand and fight for the dignity of the preborn and the sanctity of human life. Marquette should be ashamed of itself for promoting Planned Parenthood and for thinking that they should be proud that a student works for the nation’s largest abortion vendor.”
According to student Zachary Petrizzo back in 2018, Marquette is “anything but a Jesuit and Catholic university.” Petrizzo said that conservative thoughts are not accepted and that professors often hang Planned Parenthood signs on their office doors.
