School walkouts have been growing in popularity as a form of protest among high schoolers. However, students have not typically organized such events to protest abortion — until now.
On April 11th, pro-life students in California will be staging a school walkout in an effort to shine a light on abortion and the dignity of life, and they are urging students across the country to join them. The walkout, orchestrated by Rocklin High School student Brandon Gillespie, will involve students leaving their classes at 10 a.m. and remaining out of class for 17 minutes.
Gillespie wants this walkout not only to bring attention to the horror of abortion but also to test whether or not school administrations are biased in which causes they allow students to protest for. In an interview with Breitbart News, he stated:
I’m very pro-life – I’m against abortion. So, that’s the biggest thing. But, also, I really want to test and see if there is a double standard at schools because the previous walkout on March 14 was school-sanctioned and it was for gun control. So, I wanted to test the schools and see if they would allow a more conservative topic. That’s why I’m doing this; but, yes, I am also very pro-life.
In talking to Breitbart, Gillespie explained that he has talked to the school’s principal on whether or not the walkout will have school sanctioning.
“I asked him for the exact same accommodations that were given to the students who held the previous walkout on March 14, and he was not able to give me a direct answer on whether or not I was able to have this pro-life walkout,” he explained.
“He told me he has to go talk to certain administrators and people in the school district before he can give me a direct answer. So, he told me he will be getting back to me on April 2.”
No word has yet been given as to whether the school will sanction the April 11th event.
Gillespie and others who are involved in the planning of the walkout are urging fellow pro-lifers in high schools across the country to participate and to hashtag everything using “#life.” Walkouts will not adjust for time differences but will occur at 10 a.m. in each participating time zone. Thanks to the publicity garnered from social media, several other schools across the nation are already planning on joining Rocklin High School.
Photo credit: Anna Levinzon via Flickr, CC BY 2.0
