Black Community News News and Commentary for Christians
A Students for Life-affiliated club at a high school in the Noblesville School District in Indiana requested the school’s permission to post pro-life flyers. Not only did the school refuse the request but also derecognize the group.
According to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the student group’s legal counsel, the flyers depicted students holding signs in front of the Supreme Court with the phrases “I Reject Abortion,” “Defund Planned Parenthood,” and “I Am the Pro-Life Generation.” From ADF:
School staff insisted that she post the flyers without the pictures, telling her at one point that the flyer could not be “political.” The same day an administrator told the student she couldn’t have “political” flyers, the principal derecognized the group.
ADF filed a lawsuit on the students’ behalf. In ruling against the plaintiffs, the lower court contended that they hadn’t complied with the Indiana Tort Claims Act notification requirements. The students asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to hear the case. ADF attorney Matt Hoffman argued in court on Tuesday.
“Students don’t lose their First Amendment right to free speech when they walk into a school building,” he said. “This isn’t just about a flyer; this is about a school telling a high-schooler that she can’t publicly express messages that are important to her.
Hoffman added that other student groups are allowed to express messages they believe in, but the school district punished the pro-life students for requesting to do the same.
The pro-life student club had to deal with similar problems from the outset. The student who started the club said that teachers and other faculty called her a bigot and other names on social media for wanting to start the club.
Join the pro-life cause and protect the unborn! Stay up to date and sign up for our newsletter.
