By Aimee McElreath, Staff Writer
On March 25, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saint Leo University’s pro-life club, Imago Dei, hosted its largest organized event of the year outside of the Student Activities Building (SAB), featuring Students for Life of America’s Florida and Puerto Rico Regional Coordinator, Kristen Marais.
Imago Dei, with the help of Marais, hosted a tabling event centered around advocacy for continuing to defund Planned Parenthood, which currently receives funding from the government because it is considered a healthcare service.
Marais provided details on why this issue is critical to the pro-life movement.
“[Planned Parenthood is] the biggest abortion provider in the country. They claim that they do all these other services for women. However, that’s about 3% of what they do. Their STD testing, pregnancy testing, birth control, gender-affirming care is about 3%. 97% of what they do is abortions.”
Imago Dei hosted this event with Marais in response to a potential return of funding from Medicaid to Planned Parenthood. In July 2025, when President Donald J. Trump signed what was known as “The Big Beautiful Bill,” Medicaid funding was effectively cut from Planned Parenthood for one year. This July, Planned Parenthood could receive Medicaid funding again.
Imago Dei spoke with 28 students about the need to defund Planned Parenthood. Marais provided free pens, buttons, wristbands, and informational flyers and cards for students passing by. Seven students signed up to join Imago Dei.
The core mission of Students for Life of America is to make abortion unthinkable. Imago Dei hopes that this event will bring society one step closer to that goal.
Marais explained how she wants to achieve this goal, “We want to advocate for a society that supports women and families, [where it]doesn’t need to be the case where our foster care system is reformed, and our economy is improved, where killing your baby isn’t something that is considered, [and]to make it unavailable.”
As the Regional Coordinator for Florida and Puerto Rico, Marais trains and recruits student groups in both states to advocate for life.
She adds that students are trained to “be a voice for the voiceless, where we table on campus like we are today, with the exposing Planned Parenthood tabletop as well as maybe a tour display.”
By spreading awareness about how Planned Parenthood kills millions of unborn children per year, Marais defended life with Imago Dei at this event. She is expecting her first baby boy on April 9, and she fights for him and every pre-born child in the pro-life movement.
