National Pro-life T-shirt Day 2006 is set for Tuesday, April 25
"The pro-life message will not be silenced in our schools," said Erik Whittington, American Life League's youth outreach director. "Wearing a T-shirt with a pro-life message is about more than just making a statement. It presents the truth about the horrors of abortion, while at the same time offers hope for the future. Pro-life T-shirts can and do save lives."
On April 25 thousands of young people will participate in American Life League's fourth annual National Pro-Life T-shirt Day by wearing shirts with pro-life messages to schools and colleges across the country. The official T-shirt reads, "Help cure abortion. Abortion: leading cause of death in America. 1,200,000 a year." American Life League is hosting a comprehensive web site at www.NationalProLifeTshirtDay.com.
"As you might expect, there are some public school administrators who don't quite know what to do when dozens-even hundreds-of their students show up for class wearing pro-life messages," said Whittington. "Some have even threatened students with detention, suspension and expulsion. However, the Constitution is on the side of free speech."
Over the years, the Thomas More Law Center has assisted students who were forbidden to wear clothing containing pro-life messages. The center has been able to show that if public schools permit students to wear "message' clothing, they cannot exclude messages the administrators may not agree with.
"It's always an encouraging sight to see a group of kids in pro-life T-shirts walking together through the halls of a public high school," said Whittington. "That puts it all together; the right to life for every human being in this country is just as fundamental as the right to free speech. And that's the message we hope to send with American Life League’s National Pro-life T-shirt Day."