Student gov promotes Planned Parenthood. Then conservatives push back.

A photo shared online by the University of Utah’s student government displayed their president holding a Planned Parenthood sign.

The Associated Students of the University of Utah (ASUU) posted a photo on its official Instagram account of the ASUU student body president, Connor Morgan, holding a Planned Parenthood sign at the Women’s March on Utah on Saturday. 

“I was excited to see students from the U take an active and forward role in planning today’s march through their involvement in People for Unity, and I was thrilled to see student activists from the U address the crowd,” Morgan told The Daily Utah Chronicle in a quote also featured on the Instagram post. 

The ASUU post concerned some students, including several members of College Republicans at the University of Utah.

”This is a very inappropriate use of ASUU’s official social media,” one Instagram user commented. 

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“On a public college campus, the University (student government, administration, professors, etc.) should not be showing innate bias, such as showing a Planned Parenthood poster,” UU College Republicans Secretary Raeanne Glover told Campus Reform. She stated that official university social media accounts are supposed to be used for promoting events on campus and improving the experience at the school, not advocating for political causes.

“We call upon the ASUU to focus on its events at the University of Utah,” she said.

The march, hosted by the People for Unity chapter at the University of Utah, was not associated with the national Women’s March, whose leader refused to condemn Louis Farrakhan, who has likened Jews to termites and called Adolf Hitler a “very great man.” College Democrats of Utah president and co-founder of March for Our Lives Utah Ermiya Fanaeian and Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski were among those who spoke at the People for Unity march. Fanaeian spoke about liberation for women while Biskupski spoke about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Hundreds of people showed up to the march, including students.

[RELATED: Utah students pass out Planned Parenthood ‘swag’ at ‘Condom Fashion Show’]

The ASUU has also presented numerous events, including “My Culture is Not Your Costume,” ”Economics of Inequality,” and will be hosting a social justice event with Blair Emani, whom it describes as an “author and activist living at an intersection of black, queer, and Muslim identity.”

“While it is important to recognize that others are free to say what they would like, it is equally as important to understand that those with a differing opinion are not ‘evil,’” ASUU Senator of Undergraduate Studies Kaden Madson told Campus Reform. “Too often, we pounce on every opportunity to cast blame, doubt, and smear those we believe differ from us, while often having to walk back and re-examine the situation. When we allow ourselves to get into heated debates, yet keep our civility, it shows me that there is hope for our future.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @francesanne123