Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
At 10:00 a.m. this morning, prolife students from hundreds of schools across America walked out of their classrooms for 17 minutes of silence and prayer to honor the 10 babies that will die violently at an abortion clinic during that time.
According to LifeSiteNews.com, the National Pro-Life Walkout, the brainchild of Brandon Gillespie of Rocklin High School in California, is enjoying organizational support from Students for Life of America. The aim of the march is “to honor all the lives of the millions of aborted babies every year, and to raise awareness of the “cruel injustices taking place at Planned Parenthood.”
“We will no longer tolerate legal abortion in our nation, which has killed more than a fourth of our generation,” the event page reads. “We will no longer watch as our leaders in Washington continue to fund our nation’s largest abortion vendor, Planned Parenthood, with more than $500 million of our taxpayer dollars. We will no longer permit Planned Parenthood and their allies in the abortion industry to target our peers for their predatory business cycle.”
Unlike the March 14 school walkouts to support gun control legislation which saw schools and the media bending over backward to facilitate and sensationalize the event, the National Pro-Life Walkout is getting no such support.
But this comes as a surprise to no one, not even Gillespie, who got the inspiration for the walk after witnessing the double-standard that existed in the school during the gun marches.
As LifeSite reports, Gillespie’s history teacher, Julianne Benzel, was suspended for two days after she led a class discussion in which she questioned whether or not schools would allow students to walk out as readily for a protest against other issues, such as abortion.
Gillespie decided to put his suspicions to the test and announced the Pro-Life Walkout.
Sure enough, his school said that while they wouldn’t discipline students for participating, they would not support it because the event wasn’t “viewpoint neutral.” They claimed the gun march was different because it was a remembrance activity for the students killed in the February 14 Parkland High School shooting.
However, as we all know, these marches were about a lot more than remembering the victims of the shooting. They were filled with calls for specific policy changes in existing gun laws.
Unfortunately for Rocklin High School, they walked right into Gillespie’s trap and found themselves on the receiving end of a letter from Allison K. Aranda, senior staff counsel at the Life Legal Defense Foundation.
In her letter, she outlines all of the assistance that was given to gun walkout organizers such as allowing teachers to modify their lesson plans to accommodate the 17 minutes of lost class time and giving students access to the school’s amphitheater and sound system, then asks why Gillespie was denied the same accommodations.
“Please provide me with a copy of any and all of your school or district policies that govern your decision to treat the prolife walkout differently than the gun walkout,” Aranda demanded.
“RHS granted permission for students to engage in certain expressive activity, including leaving class and gathering in the amphitheater, to support gun control legislation. It may not withhold similar permission from those seeking to engage in the identical expressive activity to support legal protection for the unborn.”
She concluded by promising to “pursue all legal remedies” to protect Gillespie’s constitutional and civil rights should the school try to interfere with his activities in any way.
“This is a blatant case of content discrimination and arbitrary favoritism,” Life Legal executive director Alexandra Snyder told LifeSite. “Rocklin High School’s decision treats the Pro-life Walkout differently than the way the school treated the gun walkout, which violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection rights of every student participating in the Pro-life walkout.”
Even though they were caught in their hypocrisy, this kind of double-standard is pervasive in our society where “progressive” views, fully supported by the media, are put forth as being the prevailing viewpoint. However, the majority of Americans believe that all life needs to be protected, not just from gun violence, but from all forms of violence, including the willful dismemberment of unborn babies in the womb.
Gillespie, and students like him, who are not afraid to buck the tide and stand up for what’s right, deserve both our prayers and our respect. They are our hope for a better future for this country!
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