Not really that hard to “balance”
Fox News has a column from Jamie Colby who recently covered the story of a group of pro-life kids represented by the Alliance Defense Fund who were told that they were not allowed to express a pro-life view in their schools.
Fox News: Children and Choice
I cannot recall the last time I was this conflicted as an attorney, over our need to balance constitutional rights in this country. In this case, the issue is freedom of speech, and the situation has the potential to both help and hurt our kids.
I’ve just returned from Gowana Middle School, in New York’s Shenendehowa School District. I interviewed students who attempted to speak out against abortion, as part of the national day of silent protest organized by Stand True - Christ Centered Pro-life.
Students ranging from ages 13 to 16 prepared pamphlets, made descriptive T-shirts, and placed duct tape, with the word LIFE written on it, over their mouths.
The pamphlets and T-shirts were made at their homes, on their own time, and with their own money. They’ve since received both support and representation by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a not-for-profit organization, with a mission to “defend the right to hear and speak the truth through strategy, training, funding and litigation.”
On the school bus and at school, the students silently distributed their pro-life brochures giving them out to any interested middle school student — they range in age from 10-year-old 6th graders to 13-year-old 8th graders. The pamphlets detail how many fetuses are aborted each year. The student-made pamphlet goes on to say that these “Americans” are not only silenced, but also killed.
Where’s the “conflict?” ADF is working on at least five cases where Stand True students were shut down. I have confirmed that at least one of the high schools where students’ rights were squashed conducts seminars in which Planned Parenthood is one of the presenters. This school also hosts a “gay-straight alliance” club as well as having an extensive sex-ed curriculum. The student I spoke to has also witnessed Iraq war protesting and other demonstrations that would be deemed controversial for kids in school. Of course this young lady I spoke to was singled out for censorship in this Deep Blue State government propaganda mill because the school bureaucrats just didn’t like what she had to say.
It’s obvious that these kids were shut down purely due to their viewpoint, not because they were expressing a political position or were presenting material that kids of a certain age are unprepared to hear. If kids can hear from Planned Parenthood and "safe sex teachings", they are ready to hear that abortion kills. Their rights were clearly violated.
Thankfully, we have ADF standing in the gap and protecting the rights of these students.
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