Elisabeth Hasselbeck, in Fox's Trouble With Schools segment, brings to light a student at West Tech, H.S. in Las Vegas who has been denied the right to start a "Pro-Life Club." Angelique Clark, a sophomore, has decided to pursue her 'crusade' further by seeking counsel from the radically pro-life, Thomas More Society. Clark and her lawyer, Jocelyn Floyd, appeared on the morning program to plead their case.
Both guests claim they had all the necessary support, including the faculty signature on her application dated December, 2014. Apparently, it's very important for Ms. Clark to 1.) make sure others are denied a right to a legal and safe abortion and 2.) to profess her religiosity to others, especially those at the collegiate level. There are plenty of right wing colleges that would take notice of a student willing to be the face of one of their pet causes: denying women the right of autonomy over their own bodies.
Pandering in the name of pro-life really only seeks to deny others this right, because if Ms. Clark is so dead set against abortion, she never has to have one. No one has been forced to have an abortion, so her motives are suspect, and it seems the Clark County School District (CCSD) sees the 'club' as one that fails to separate church and state, again.
Attorneys for the national organization sent letters to Clark's principal as well as school district officials. Those letters claim they are in violation of Clark's rights under the First Amendment and Equal Access Act.
“They cannot treat any club differently because of the content of the speech. If you deny a club because the topic is controversial, that's the content of the speech,” said Jocelyn Floyd, an attorney with the Thomas More Society.
Apparently, this club is important to the tenth grader because she doesn't like the idea of terminating a pregnancy. You might think, hey, a high-school sophomore has had plenty of life experience to know about the costs of raising a child, which require huge sums of time and money. Does this student have the right to deride abortion, given the fact that she is not in that poverty-stricken demographic, and proselytize about her 'deeply held religious beliefs' in a public school? She seems to think so, even if her club could cause others to be stigmatized and ostracized
“I did a lot of research on abortion and I became really passionate about helping women in need of an abortion or would think they needed an abortion,” Clark said.
Floyd's legal group, The Thomas More Society (TMS), is most famously known for their favorite justice, Antonin Scalia. It is named after the patron saint of lawyers. Thomas More was absolutely anything but a saint, in fact he had an insatiable blood lust for those who fell out of favor from the Catholic Church.
Thomas More, far from being the consummate “man of conscience,” was…the heretic hunter of the mid-1520s, who personally broke into Lutherans’ homes and sent men to the stake, … [and who] would punish religious dissent not only with “displeasant” words but with state violence.
The TMS is committed to ending the practice of legal and safe abortions for women. TMS has launched a nationwide campaign to fight Planned Parenthood. They target this organization, specifically, because it's easier to take away the poorest woman's ability to decide to end an unwanted and expensive pregnancy. Not only does the group help with contraception, closing locations means that women are denied the vital healthcare services that Planned Parenthood provides. Women of means will never face the same obstacles as those in poverty.
Clark and Floyd are hoping to get an answer before the June 1st deadline. The CCSD school year ends Thursday, June 4. Outlets, like Fox News, who are sympathetic to religious zealots, will not give up, so I'm sure this battle could easily continue on into the next school year.
