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Student wants to know why pro-life club is being blocked

A student at a Virginia high school that refuses to officially allow a "pro-life" club will seek relief in federal court, asking that a judge determine if school officials are exercising viewpoint discrimination. An attorney for the student says his client hopes to show the lack of consistency in the school's stated reasons why it refuses to recognize the club, in light of no official district policy to that effect, as well as a history of possible bias against religion by those officials.

Colonial Forge High School has allegedly been refusing to recognize a potential pro-life club for some time, the latest effort apparently denied for not meeting "the standard" of a direct curricular link, according to David Cortman, an Alliance Defense Fund attorney for the student.

But Cortman says no such standard was applied for other clubs on campus like the Key Club, Young Democrats, and Students Against Drunk Driving. And if it were, he alleges, those clubs would not be more related to syllabus material than the pro-life group's addressed topics that relate to health class discussions.

"The pro-life club relates to many different classes," says the attorney. "As a matter of fact, in the health curriculum they talk about abstinence, which is exactly what the pro-life club has in its message. They talk about destructive decisions for premarital sexual activity or not getting an abortion, which is exactly what the pro-life club addresses. So what's incredible here [is that] the pro-life club actually relates to the curriculum much more than the other clubs touted to do so by the school district."

Cortman argues the situation is another example of school officials engaging in viewpoint discrimination. "They allow certain subjects to be discussed both in the classes and by student clubs, but apparently didn't appreciate a pro-life or religious viewpoint on those same topics," he says. He cites the school's withdrawal of recognition from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as an example supporting his argument.

Ironically, district policy does not require curriculum-related groups. So Cortman calls the denial of the pro-life club's recognition "inconsistent and unconstitutional."