Hi everyone!
I just wanted to share with you all an amazing story of two high school students courage in standing up for life. I would also like to ask you to please send them a note of encouragement and prayers! Here are two articles published by SFLA about their difficult mission.
Since last year, our team has been working with brave high school pro-life students, Brigid and Katie in Fargo, North Dakota.These two girls have courageously volunteered to start a much needed Students for Life group at two public high schools in Fargo – Fargo North High School and Davies High School.
Despite the fact that their schools have allowed a “Gay-Straight Alliance” on campuses, both of their public high schools have denied Brigid and Katie their constitutional guaranteed right to freedom of speech and assembly saying that starting a pro-life group will be “too controversial!”
In fact, their administrators have put these students through extensive questioning, including inappropriate questions about their religious affiliations, and have gone to the entire Fargo School Board to stop pro-life student groups from being started in the entire city!!
It’s outrageous!
After months of trying to work with the schools to uphold our students’ constitutional rights, we are going public with our story and threatening to take legal action against the Fargo School District if they don’t relent.
However, these two courageous students – Brigid and Katie – are coming under intense scrutiny in their classes and in their school hallways with taking this case public.
So I need your help today.
Brigid and Katie are only sophomores yet they are standing up for what’s right, even in the face of criticism, simply because they know how important it is to have a Students for Life group at their schools.
They know starting a pro-life group will mean that they can save lives, help other young girls in crisis, and educate their peers about abortion and to steer clear of the abortion Goliath, Planned Parenthood.
Right now, our team at Students for Life has been helping Brigid and Katie prepare for media interviews, we have a staff member in Fargo with the girls to help them through this time, and our attorneys at the Thomas More Legal Society are working hard on our legal options from here.
However, these brave girls need to know that they aren’t alone. They need to know that you and I are standing with them in this battle – standing up for the constitutional rights of all pro-lifers and for the lives of the preborn and their mothers who depend on our work.
Today, can you take just 2 minutes and send Brigid and Katie a message of support? While it may not seem like too much to you, it will mean the world to them!
Kristan Hawkins
President, Students for Life of America
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SCHOOL DISTRICT DISCRIMINATES AGAINST PRO-LIFE CLUBS
Students for Life of America and the Thomas More Society call on Fargo School District No. 1 to respect students’ First Amendment rights
(April 8, 2015 – Fargo, ND) – Fargo School District No. 1 Superintendent Dr. Jeff Schatz has received a demand letter from Students for Life of America’s law firm, the Thomas More Society, on behalf of students Brigid O’Keefe of Fargo North High School, Katie McPherson of Davies High School, and Students for Life of America. The letter charges that the District has unconstitutionally discriminated against pro-life students at Fargo North and Davies High Schools by denying the students’ right to form Students for Life groups at their schools.
“Denying high school students the opportunity to start a club because it promotes the pro-life message is outright discrimination,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America. “Since administrators have refused to allow students at Fargo North or Davies to start their Students for Life clubs and educate their peers on the tragedy of abortion, Brigid, Katie, and their pro-life classmates had to seek assistance from Students for Life of America and our attorneys at Thomas More Society to get their clubs off the ground.”
At Davies High School, sophomore Katie McPherson has been trying to start a Students for Life club since September 2014. For months, the school administration would not approve the application or assign the club a room for meetings.
At Fargo North, sophomore Brigid O’Keefe found an advisor and submitted her application to start a Students for Life club in February 2015. School administrators put Brigid and other prospective club members through extensive questioning, including questions about their religious affiliations, before denying the club. After the students asked for reconsideration, the administrators turned the matter over to the District.
“I started a book club last fall and had no problem getting approved. But when my friends and I applied to start a Students for Life club, the administrators wouldn’t approve our application as a student organization,” said Brigid O’Keefe, sophomore at Fargo North. “We want to share with our peers the pro-life message of respect for all people at any stage, and make a positive impact on our community. But because the school won’t allow us to be an official school club, we can’t.”
At that point, the District consolidated the two applications and made a decision binding on both schools.
The District decided to classify the pro-life clubs as “outside agencies” rather than approving them as official school clubs, meaning that the pro-life clubs cannot use the school name in their clubs’ names, cannot host events, and cannot put up posters at school to advertise or spread their message.
“Public schools are required by law to treat all student groups equally,” said Jocelyn Floyd, Associate Counsel of Thomas More Society. “However, the School District and administrators at Fargo North and Davies High Schools are treating pro-life students as second class citizens, forcing them to abide by a policy that was designed to protect students from exploitation by businesses, not to censor the students’ own free speech.”
The District based its “outside agencies” classification on a District Solicitation Policy intended to regulate advertising by private businesses. “This is a clear misapplication of a policy that was never intended to limit students’ speech on significant human rights issues facing their generation,” added Attorney Jocelyn Floyd.
Furthermore, despite the administrators’ refusal to allow school pro-life clubs, many other non-curricular clubs exist at both high schools, including debate teams, a chess club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and gay/straight alliances.
As Thomas More Society states in their demand letter, the District’s refusal to officially recognize the Students for Life clubs as proper student organizations constitutes a violation of the students’ rights under both the federal Equal Access Act and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. All students who wish to form non-curricular clubs must be treated equally, even if the clubs they wish to form are religious or political.
Students for Life of America and the Thomas More Society requests that the District reverse its decision and promptly approve the Students for Life clubs.
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Please send a message to these girls letting them know of our support! Also, spread the word!
~Sarah
