The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that adjudicated in support of a principal’s suspension of a pro-life student group. A freshman student at a Nobleville, Indiana high school, who went by the name of E.D. in the court documents, had founded the Students For Life club and hung flyers promoting the defunding of Planned Parenthood before being denied further school sanctioning.
In the court-contested battle, student E.D. argued her first amendment rights to oppose abortion were being infringed by not being able to voice support for the pro-life cause. Deemed too political by the school principal, the ruling struck a raw nerve as the same principal condoned overtly political and controversial clubs for student groups promoting, for example, the LGBT agenda. Indeed, E.D. stated the school’s initial decision was driven by simple ‘hostility’ toward her views.
Expanding on that last point, The Christian Post wrote that the school ‘claimed to have a policy requiring wall postings for student clubs to be content-neutral.’ This statement alone sounds absurd, as the school claimed other clubs like the Young Democrats, Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and Black Student Union club existed in a supposed ‘neutral’ environment.
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins echoed the same sentiment shared by The Christian Tribune when analyzing specifics of the case, stating that school districts ‘appear more willing to accommodate organizations that uphold certain perspectives over pro-life groups.’ Again, taken in the context of allowing even a Young Democrats group to operate, which presumably advocates for the euphemistic pro-choice side of the debate, how can one not arrive at that same conclusion?
Hawkins took the issue even further, pointing out the many examples of school districts accommodating nearly everyone and everything in the past several years. “It’s extraordinary how in the woke environment over the last few years, schools have accommodated kids dressed up like animals and every kind of club imaginable, and yet we are still fighting for the rights of pro-life students to be heard,” Hawkins related.
The situation seems rife to move through the court system and up to the Supreme Court, as the core issue of equal treatment and free speech for non-mainstream views would find perhaps more favorable support with a nominal 6-3 conservative lead over liberal-appointed justices on the nation’s highest bench.
Worth pointing out as well is that Joe Biden seated five new justices alone to the nation’s 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in the backyard of Barack Obama’s hometown. Two of the three judges presiding over the case were indeed his appointees; Justices Candace Jackson-Akiwumi and Nancy L. Maldonado
“We affirm. The record shows that school officials approved E.D.’s club, reasonably accommodated her speech,
and suspended the club only for neutral, conduct-related reasons,” the trio succinctly summarized in its August 14th, 2025 ruling.
Featured image: Miss.Monica.Elizabeth, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons