Freedom of Speech! (Except for Pro-Lifers)

Commentary by Erik Whittington
May 3, 2005

You wouldn’t think in some of the most pro-life, pro-family states in America that public school students would have their free-speech rights trampled for wearing T-shirts with a message about abortion – but it has happened. Yes, it has happened for three years running now since American Life League first introduced its National Pro-life T-shirt Day. Last week, students across the country were forced to remove pro-life T-shirts, cover them with jackets, sweatshirts or duct tape, or face disciplinary action. Sound like a bad dream? Nope. It’s the scary truth.

American Life League marked its third annual National Pro-life T-shirt Day on Tuesday, April 26. Tens of thousands of students and adults wore shirts with pro-life messages to their high schools and colleges. Unfortunately, many young people saw for the first time how their rights as American citizens can be infringed upon by overzealous school administrators.

The calls to American Life League’s office began early Tuesday morning. “I was removed from class today and asked by my principal to turn my shirt inside-out, remove it or go home and change shirts. What should I do?” asked one pro-life student. This was the unthinkable question that was continually asked throughout the day.

Knowing that teenagers like to be teenagers, and knowing what some of the current fashion statements are, one might ask if other students were told to change shirts that read, “Porn Star” or “Playboy Bunny.” Or, one might ask if students were told to change their clothing because it was small, skimpy and revealing. Apparently not. The shirts that students were asked to remove displayed a picture of a living baby in the womb with the words, “She smiles, hears, kicks and feels pain. Abortion kills kids.” The message is simple, blunt and truthful.

Certain school administrators took it upon themselves to rewrite the Constitution regarding free speech, conveniently ignoring one simple fact. Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in the 1969 case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, students do not “shed their constitutional rights… at the schoolhouse gate.” That landmark case protected students who wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. One would suspect that many on the faculty and staff that demanded those students lose their pro-life T-shirts can remember their own days of protesting the Vietnam War. Students who stand up for the rights of preborn children today feel just as passionately as those students in the 60s who protested the war. Likewise, today’s students deserve the same rights that the war protestors were granted. I guess some administrators just need to go back to school and read their history books.

Yes, you wouldn’t think that a T-shirt with a baby and a simple message would cause such a controversy, but it has. Here is just a sampling:

Students say administrators at a high school in Massachusetts pulled 35 students from their classes and instructed them to immediately change their shirts, cover the picture and message, or turn them inside out. One girl gladly removed her shirt, which proudly revealed another T-shirt underneath which read “Abortion Is Homicide.” She was told that the same rules applied to her second shirt as well.

Two young girls in a Virginia middle school say they were brought to the principal’s office and informed that their shirts caused a disruption and needed to be covered, removed or turned inside out. When the girls’ mother was apprised of the situation, she was far from happy. After pressing the principal, the mother learned that her daughter had not caused any problems, but other students started a lively conversation in first period class about abortion and the teacher felt that she couldn’t control the situation. (Call the police, quick! Students are thinking about and discussing important issues in school… this must be stopped!). The teacher then decided to send the peaceful wearer of the life-promoting shirt to the principal’s office instead of those students who were supposedly causing a disruption in the classroom. Thankfully, Mom has decided to challenge the school. Ironically, the two other children in that family, one in the same middle school and the other in a nearby high school, had no problems wearing their pro-life shirts to school that day. Where is the logic?

Three middle school students in Texas say they were also forced by their teachers to conceal the pro-life message on their shirts because of the “disruption” they were causing. Amazingly, when one of the courageous pro-life students questioned, “What about our right to free speech?” the teacher arrogantly responded, “Freedom of speech does not apply at school!” Oh really? Texas is in the United States, right? Of course the parents of these students were livid at the situation and challenged the school. After being informed by one of the assistant principals that the pro-life shirt was causing other students to act disruptively, the parent asked, “So what disciplinary actions were taken against the disruptive students?” Fuming, the assistant principal quickly avoided the question and informed the parent that if his daughter did not change or cover her T-shirt, she would be suspended. Again, this brave, pro-life trooper told her assistant principal that she would not remove the shirt, and her father stuck by her. Two hours later the school principal called the parent to apologize then informed him that his daughter had a right to wear the T-shirt. I'm guessing he looked up the term “freedom of speech” in the dictionary.

Finally, the real doozy of all the stories came from Iowa. Tamera and her sister Brittany say they were instructed to — well you know the story — cover, turn inside out or remove the shirt because of the disruption they were causing. Tamera, worried about her graduation just around the corner, decided to comply. Her younger sister was another story. Brittany was upset, but refused to change. However, she says the school strong-armed her into changing the T-shirt by telling her that if she didn’t comply, both she AND her older sister could be suspended and her sister could miss her graduation. That’s nice — a young girl reporting that her school used threatening tactics because she was simply standing up for her Constitutional rights. Tamera and Brittany’s parents say they are now considering legal action against the school.

Have you heard enough? Fortunately for these and other students, organizations such as the Thomas More Law Center have committed to reviewing these situations and coming to the aid of harassed students. In past cases when the Thomas More Law Center has gotten involved, public school administrators changed their tune when it was pointed out that students have the right to free expression.

Young people are truly at the center of a cultural storm today. Schools are battlegrounds of ideas and students should be allowed to peacefully present their thoughts and beliefs without the threat of disciplinary action. Pro-life T-shirts carry a powerful message that so many young people need to see. We will never know just how many babies are alive today thanks to the simple message on a T-shirt. The bottom line is this: the right to free speech is everyone’s right. Shouldn’t the right to life be everyone’s right, too?

The Washington Dispatch