One student’s pro-abortion valedictorian speech attacking a Texas abortion law is getting major praise from the liberal media. After getting fawning treatment from celebrities, Democrat politicians and journalists alike, Dallas high school graduate Paxton Smith appeared on ABC News Live Thursday, for another fawning media interview. But ABC reporter Linsey Davis almost seemed disappointed to hear pro-life conservatives weren’t the hateful bigots the media portrays them to be.
ABC first played clips from Smith’s pro-abortion tirade trashing Texas’s “dehumanizing” “heartbeat bill” which bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, saying it “stripped the future away” from millions of women like her.
Davis was awestruck, remarking to the teen, “One thing we could all feel was her passion. Paxton Smith joins us tonight. First off, Paxton, wow. Just wow really.”
Despite getting no punishment from her school for giving a highly political, unapproved graduation speech and getting media accolades left and right for her politically correct message, Davis repeatedly tried to create the narrative that Smith was going against the grain, asking:
DAVIS: Were you worried about the potential repercussions of going off script and diving into such a controversial topic?
...
Did anyone at the school have any kind of sense at all that you might go in this direction? Had anyone tried to kind of waive you off?
Which led the reporter to asking if the teen had gotten hate from any pro-life conservatives or “anti-abortion activists.” Davis seemed shocked to hear that the responses had been mostly civil:
DAVIS: Of course this Texas law has been praised by anti-abortion activists. What kind of backlash have you gotten as a result of your speech?
SMITH: [smiling] I've actually only gotten two negative messages total.
DAVIS: Just two? Can you give us a sense of what those messages were?
SMITH: One of them said that I should be ashamed and the other one, she was talking about things that you can do to not be pregnant and then used some aggressive language.
Davis also praised the teen activist for getting thumbs up from Democrats like Hillary Clinton and encouraged her to continue her liberal activism:
...And when your speech went viral, even getting retweet from Hillary Clinton, what was your reaction to that?
... What would you like to see happen now as a result of not only the speech but the traction that it has gotten?
…Do you think this experience might shape what you decide to study or pursue in the coming years?
The interview ended with more fawning praise from the liberal reporter, as she gushed, “What gave you that fire in the belly to just go for it that day?”
As we've seen repeatedly, the media only finds young people who promote liberal causes to be passionate and inspiring, while they ignore pro-life youth.
Read the transcript portions below:
ABC News Live Prime
6/3/2021
LINSEY DAVIS: One thing we could all feel was her passion. Paxton Smith joins us tonight. First off, Paxton, wow. Just wow really. Take us to that moment when you swap out your original speech to this one. Was that planned or just a spur of the moment decision?
(...)
DAVIS: Were you worried about the potential repercussions of going off script and diving into such a controversial topic?
(...)
DAVIS: Did anyone at the school have any kind of sense at all that you might go in this direction? Had anyone tried to kind of waive you off?
(...)
DAVIS: And when your speech went viral, even getting retweet from Hillary Clinton, what was your reaction to that?
SMITH: I was shocked. I didn't expect the speech to really go far past the stage, but I'm so happy that it's gotten the traction that it's gotten.
DAVIS: What would you like to see happen now as a result of not only the speech but the traction that it has gotten?
SMITH: I hope that it opens up the conversation about reproductive rights for a lot of people, and I hope that people take it upon themselves to learn more about it and then to have opinions about it and to vote in their local and state elections.
DAVIS: Of course this Texas law has been praised by anti-abortion activists. What kind of backlash have you gotten as a result of your speech?
SMITH: I've actually only gotten two negative messages total.
DAVIS: Just two? Can you give us a sense of what those messages were?
SMITH: One of them said that I should be ashamed and the other one, she was talking about things that you can do to not be pregnant and then used some aggressive language.
DAVIS: ….I want to ask you, do you think students should be able to say whatever they want even if someone is potentially offended by their positions?
(...)
DAVIS: Do you think this experience might shape what you decide to study or pursue in the coming years?
SMITH: It might. This has all happened so fast that I haven't really had time to reflect on how this has impacted me and what I want to do with my life, however, I am planning on doing some activism and some social work in college.
DAVIS: Lastly, Paxton. You're just 18 years old. A lot of times people would be way too afraid or timid. What gave you that fire in the belly to just go for it that day?
SMITH: It's hard to say, but it's -- I feel so strongly about this that it felt like it was the right thing to do and that doing anything else would have been wrong.
