‘Extremely Troubling’: UNC Student Government Withholds Funding From Pro-Life Groups

The student government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is avoiding business with any individual, business or organization that advocates for pro-life causes, according to an Instagram post.

UNC Student Body President Taliajah Vann issued an executive order that withholds funds from any group that supports limiting “access to reproductive healthcare,” according to a July 6 Instagram post. The announcement was made following the United States Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, ending nationwide legal abortion and sending the decision on abortion to the states.

The Executive Branch of the UNC Student Government is holding a protest on July 24, “Redirect the Rage,” for people angry about the court’s decision to “speak out against the repeal of federal protections around abortions,” according to a statement by the group. The event will also inform students about their reproductive rights and resources in North Carolina.

The UNC Students For Life, a pro-life group, issued a statement following the student government’s announcement asking the president to stop the “divisive” Redirect the Rage protest, stating that “no Tarheel should feel unwelcome or threatened at Carolina because of such personally held beliefs,” according to an Instagram post.

The actions by the UNC Executive Branch are not in line with what the mission the campus promotes, Abby Buxton, co-president of the UNC Students For Life chapter, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“I think that it is extremely troubling that an organization who is committed to serving the entire student body has taken actions that do not consider the diversity of thought on campus,” Buxton told the DCNF. “I have received email after email from different faculty about how UNC should embrace diversity and make campus a safe place for everyone. However, when it comes to diversity of thought I do not find this mission being upheld, especially in recent events.”

“Their recent executive order causes Students for Life to feel like an outcast organization on campus and it makes our mission of providing resources to pregnant and parenting students more difficult to be advertised and accepted by the student body and faculty members,” Bri Shoebert, co-president of the UNC Students For Life chapter, told the DCNF.

The UNC Executive Branch compiled a list of resources for students including the location of the nearest Planned Parenthood, a list of websites to help students find the nearest abortion clinic and information on accessing Plan B emergency contraception, an Instagram post by the UNC Executive Branch showed. The group also provided information on emergency contraceptives and abortion pill options.

“I am concerned with how much worse this hostility is going to become in the fall as students return,” Shoebert told the DCNF. “On campus, I often feel unwelcome and unsafe because of my personally held beliefs and the organization that I associate myself with.”

The UNC Student Government did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.