The Washington Post might have surprised its "pro-choice" base on Tuesday morning with a front-page story headlined "Teen Wins Fight for Antiabortion Club at School." (The "anti" theme continued with the headline on A-12: "Antiabortion Club Might Be First in Region at Public School.") Reporter Theresa Vargas noted that Stephanie Hoffmeier started the "Pro-Life Club" (not the Antiabortion Club) at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, Virginia. School officials there first refused her request to start the club, and Hoffmeier and the Alliance Defense Fund sued in federal court. The high school looked at the legal case and then allowed the club to meet.
"Representatives for NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion-rights group, did not respond to requests for comment," Vargas also reported.
She added "Even some advocates of strict separation of church and state say religious speech by students at public school is protected under the Constitution and federal law." Ayesha Khan of Americans United for Separation of Church and State acknowledged the difference between government employees and private individiuals.
Stephanie Hoffmeier was also pictured on the front-page with her two-tone hair (and her usually-black fingernails are also described):
"Anybody is welcomed no matter what they believe," said Hoffmeier, who has two-toned hair and an affinity for black nail polish. Hoffmeier said she has heard little more than a few skeptical questions about the club from other students....
Signs of the teenager's belief were visible all around. A white Bible dominated the coffee table in front of the couch where she sat, contrasting with her black T-shirt. On the front, the shirt proclaimed: "Some choices are wrong." On the back: "Abortion is forever." On her shiny red drum set in the basement were stickers that read "Hard Core Jesus Freak" and "She's a child. Not a choice."
The typical Washington Post subscriber was probably writhing in their chair with discomfort as Hoffmeier and her parents saw God's will in her fight for the club. But the persistent use of "antiabortion" in the article and the headlines is the only cause for complaint in an otherwise straightforward story.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
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You go girl...
November 6, 2007 - 12:49 ET by vrwc13"She's a child. Not a choice."
...maybe a couple of pictures for your club meetings:
v
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139
warms my
November 6, 2007 - 13:03 ET by TruthMongerwarms my heart:)
Partner with Islam and the NB respect police:)
Great Story
November 6, 2007 - 12:56 ET by taterIt goes to show what prayer, faith in God, and the ability to fight for what's right will get you.
Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man could afford. -Montgomery Burns
It is a true surprise...
November 6, 2007 - 13:13 ET by Maverick313It is a true surprise that I have heard a couple true stories from the press that only contained a tiny bit of derisive vocabulary... it has blown me away. What also does that, is that there are people who have seen these pictures and still do not understand that the embryo starts life at time of conception. The heart is the first thing to be formed within the fetus. I have had many arguments with people that say it doesn't start until birth... what do you people think? That that baby doesn't fell anything when it's being aborted? How would you have liked it if your mother had decided that you weren't worth it? They usually become really angry when that question is posed to them. However, they still don't know how to respond to it.
If you don't stand behind our troops; please feel free to stand in front of them!
How would you have liked
November 6, 2007 - 13:26 ET by dmntd1This makes me think of the heartache some poor child is going to have in a decade or so, when he realizes that his failed abortion is the only reason he's alive, and able to hold hands with his twin. Coul YOU imagine knowing that your mom fully intended to abort you due to a potential physical impairment?!?
Story here.
I really think that questioning others' masculinity is a game probably better left to people who haven't had more cock in and out of them than a Tyson Chicken regional distribution center. AceOfSpades 06162007
The assumption of religion
November 6, 2007 - 13:19 ET by KC MulvilleSee how the reporter casually and unthinkingly assumes that people oppose abortion because of religion. It never dawns on her to question that pro-abortion assumption.
If abortion supporters turn it into a religious issue, then they merely have to show that they don't belong to the religion, and they're not morally bound to any theology. But abortion has nothing to do with religion, other than the fact that religions oppose it on the grounds that it's an offense against humanity.
After all, if other students start a pro-abortion club ... are they assumed to be atheists?
It is not religious for me....
November 6, 2007 - 18:45 ET by american-americanI am totally pro-life, and not at all religious. It has never been about religion for me. I am not a practicioner of any form of religion, have not been for many years now. But, I supported my children's wishes to choose their own path, never belittled religion to them, and allowed them to go with their friends to church.
I have been against abortion since my ex-friend asked me to drive her to the women's clinic years ago and hold her hand during her abortion (unknown to me at that point, it was her third time). I always thought it was their choice. I never would do it, but I didn't think I had any right to tell anyone what they could do with their body. Once I saw, firsthand, the suctioning of that baby from her womb... well... it was disgusting and I will never forget it. It took me days to get over the sick feeling it gave me.
I cannot understand how so many women can do that more than one time. You'd think they would be so upset by what they have done that they'd be more careful to avoid a second instance of need. Unfortunately, many women have repeated abortions, as their best choice for birth control.
Kudos to Stephanie Hoffmeier for fighting the school for a good cause. More people need to step up and fight the liberals on what they have hijacked as their own turf, the American court system.
If it's "anti abortion" why
November 6, 2007 - 13:23 ET by mattmIf it's "anti abortion" why is the opposite "pro-choice"?
Rhetorical question...
or...
November 6, 2007 - 13:25 ET by taterIf the people against abortion are called pro-life why is the opposite "anti-life"? Well I think we all know the answer to that.
Do you realize how much it costs to run for office? More than any honest man could afford. -Montgomery Burns
"Pro-choice" is fine by me
November 6, 2007 - 14:10 ET by TruthMonger"Pro-choice" is fine by me - as long as the baby finally gets to have their choice...
In that case I'm definitely pro-choice:)
After all, God is pro-choice - free will and all that...
Partner with Islam and the NB respect police:)
Anti-Abortion and Pro-Abortion...let's tell it like it is
November 6, 2007 - 14:28 ET by kwI like the term "anti-abortion"...now if only they would refer to pro-choice as "pro-abortion"
A more apt term is
November 6, 2007 - 18:35 ET by Dan The Man 2A more apt term is pro-death.
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
If you use the term
November 6, 2007 - 21:49 ET by stratmanIf you use the term "Anti-Abortion Club" then the correct moniker for the opposing club is "Abortion Club".
If only the media would call a spade a spade consistently.
Killing them with kindness isn't working. Time to get scrappy with the Donkeys.