School Silences Student Pro-Life Club
By Michael F. Haverluck
CBNNews.com
January 15, 2008
CBNNews.com - With organizations such as Planned Parenthood introducing abortion as another form of birth control in the nation's public schools, it may come as no surprise that a student pro-life club at a California high school was denied the rights, status and privileges enjoyed by all other student groups on campus.
A lawsuit contesting the school's refusal to recognize the club was filed Monday by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a legal group defending the rights of Christians across the nation.
When a student submitted a written request to start the "Live Action - Pro-Life Club" at Westmont High School in San Jose, California, the school's administration quickly crushed any hope of officially establishing it.
School officials not only denied the club official status, rights, privileges and benefits granted to other student groups - they allegedly prohibited the club from informing other students that it existed.
Their reason? The club was "too controversial."
Let the Constitution Decide
Do schools have the right to pick and choose what clubs they will allow on campus because they believe some students might be offended?
ADF strongly disagrees.
"Public schools should recognize the constitutional rights of pro-life students just as they do for all other students," ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman said. "The high school is clearly engaging in viewpoint discrimination when it denies this pro-life group the right to the same privileges extended to other student groups."
Many Gay-Straight Alliance clubs have emerged on public school campuses over the past decade, yet despite much resistance, they have remained on campuses in the name of "tolerance."
Is this same tolerance extended to pro-lifers?
"Schools cannot deny student clubs these privileges just because not everyone agrees with the message," added Cortman.
The complaint in the suit San Jose Division in P.A. v. Gordon et al. was followed by a motion for a preliminary injunction to keep school officials from their continued suppression of the pro-life group.
"It's our hope that the court will grant our motion for immediate relief so that these students can tell others about the club," Cortman said. "The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled time and time again that this type of discrimination is unconstitutional and this lawsuit is intended to bring the school district in compliance with the law."
Sources: The Alliance Defense Fund, CBN News
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