Last week, American Life League's National Pro-life T-shirt Day was highlighted by thousands upon thousands of youth nationwide who joined together to show support and respect for the life of every innocent human from creation to death. Unfortunately, some students learned that overzealous school administrators could infringe upon their rights as American citizens. The students were told to remove their pro-life shirts or face disciplinary action.
"The young people of this country really took a stand this past week," said Erik Whittington, director of American Life League's youth outreach. "We are encouraged that so many are willing to speak up peacefully for the rights of preborn people."
Thousands of students and adults wore T-shirts with pro-life messages to mark the third annual event. As has happened in previous years, many school administrators demanded that the pro-life messages on the shirts be censored. "It's hard to believe that a T-shirt with a picture of baby and a simple message – "abortion kills kids" – would create controversy, but it did," said Whittington. "The truth is the most powerful tool that we have in the pro-life movement and that is why there is a continual attempt to conceal it."
Here are just a few examples of harassment reported on ALL's National Pro-life T-shirt day:
- 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.
- Three middle school students in Texas say they were 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!"
- Two sisters in Iowa were told to remove their pro-life T-shirts. One sister complied and the other stood her ground. The second sister finally complied when school officials told her that if she did not remove the shirt, both she and her sister would be punished, which would affect her sister's graduation.
"It's amazing how quickly those who preach 'tolerance' become the most vehemently intolerant when the topic is abortion," said Whittington. "The truth is the truth. Abortion kills a human person."
Release issued: 4 May 05