Anna Amador, the mother of a seventh grader at McSwain Elementary School in Merced, Calif. is taking legal action after her daughter was forced to remove a pro-life t-shirt she wore to school for National Pro-life T-Shirt Day in April 2008, according to a recent
article. The shirt features two graphic images of a fetus in the womb with the word "growing" under them. Next to those images, there is a blank black square, captioned "gone."
The complaint alleges that the school principal, assistant principal and office clerk mistreated the child, allegedly forcing her to throw away her breakfast, dragging her away from the cafeteria, berating her, and demanding that she remove her shirt. Amador states that her daughter was humiliated in front of her classmates, none of whom were offended by the girl's shirt.
According to the complaint, the office clerk, forcibly dragged the girl to the principal's office, where she was told never to wear such a shirt again. The shirt was not returned to her until the end of the day.
District officials argue that not all of Amador's allegations are valid, but they do not deny that the girl was forced to remove her shirt. The district asserts that this particular shirt is not permissible under the dress code, which does not allow clothing that promotes "inappropriate subject matter" like tobacco, drug or alcohol use, sexual promiscuity, profanity or vulgarity.
Amador counterargues that the school applies this dress code subjectively and the pictures on her daughter's shirt can be found in school science textbooks.
Considering that McSwain houses grades kindergarten through 8, perhaps Amador doesn't have as strong an argument as she expected, as some forms of speech are seen as detrimental to younger kids. However, William Becker, Amador's lawyer, argues that there is nothing detrimental about the message on the young girl's shirt.
"The message of the T-shirt is that life is sacred," says Becker, a First Amendment attorney. "One would be very hard pressed to find anything wrong with that particular idea, except that some people do object to the political message."
Do you think it's okay for kids to be billboards for causes that they may or may not understand, pro-life or otherwise, in school? Do school officials have the right to demand that such clothing be removed?
Comments (81)
i'm pro-choice, but i think that if someone truly believes in the cause, they should be able to express that through any means they choose.
others have the right to agree or disagree, and they can wear shirts stating whether or not they do as well.
when it all comes down to it, it's a t-shirt. those kindergarteners can barely read yet. they see an image on a shirt, and probably don't even understand what the image is of.
plus, that shirt isn't violating the dress code.
I am pro-life in all cases including rape and incest. I'm only for abortion if the mother's life is actually in danger (i.e. she can DIE from having a baby) and all attempts have been made to save BOTH mommy's life AND baby's life. However school is a place for education not to promote our own beliefs on others who may disagree with our particular beliefs. If they had small children there like K-4th grade then I agree that shirt should not have been worn. Kids around that age don't even understand what pregnancy or abortion is. Besides how do we know that the 13 year old wasn't expressing her parents views instead of her own? Most kids that age think peanut butter is a form of birth control! They are too immature to understand anything about pregnancy and abortion and are suspectible to being influenced by their peers and parents. I however knew that sex=pregnancy=baby @ 14.
I agreed with the teachers....until I got to the line about the pictures being in textbooks. If the pictures are fine to show in a book, they're fine on a shirt. It wasn't graphic in any way that wasn't already approved.
The mom's argument needs more... intelligence.
Yeah, pictures of a fetus are in science textbooks, but the manufacturers don't put a political opinion as the caption and I'm sure the school would not have bought them if they did.
The administration probably had to "force" her because she was giving attitude. And, what's this about the shirt not being returned until the end of the day? The only thing I can think to comment here is, "Uh, duh!" That's what happens when you have something confiscated. At my school, phones are taken up and given back to you at the end of the day. That's not even a punishment, it's just the only way of resolving such a situation. If anything, that little aspect should be kept out of the lawsuit, because it only shows that the school did its job.
This girl must have known that her shirt was controversial. She must have known that she would offend some people. She got her wish and now everyone just needs to move on.
Middle school seems a bit young to be concerning one's self with such issues.
I have doubts as to the claims in the article; most schools I know of will have you go to the bathroom and turn your shirt inside out if they find it objectionable.
As for the shirt itself, the pictures on it do not seem objectionable. However, I can see it as being potentially "distracting in a learning environment" since it does bring to the forefront a rather controversial issue. Of course, on the same grounds, pro-choice shirts should also be banned.
i don't think she should wear that shirt to school. There's already enough drama there, why bring more?
I think that fact that it says "abortion" really huge on the front is what makes it inappropriate. Little kids do not need to learn about that yet.
Jr. High? I'm going to err towards saying "no" to policial/social issue shirts (especially really obnoxious attention getters, like ones that "ABORTION" across the front) on grounds that 1. People that are 11-14 are much more likely to start arguements or be distracted; neither of which are good for a productive classroom and 2. I'm darn sure that if you're wearing a shirt advocating for/against abortion, gun control, marijuna legalization, censorship, the Patriot Act, Prop 8, socialization of health care, anarchy, socialism, communism, feudalism, expansionalism, freedom of cross burning, or the reestablishment of the Confederancy you're probably wearing something your parents gave you and want you to wear, and therefore you're pushing their views, not yours (which ain't cool).
High school? Nothing super graphic or sexual or really, really alcohol/drug/tobacco promoting and go ahead. Hell, I remember one week where I wore a different social justice advocacy t-shirt everyday.
Wow, I would hate to have been the person who had just suffered a miscarriage before reading that bitch's shirt.
The pictures were of something that others can find offensive, which are not allowed on school property. Of course most schools don't seem to strictly follow their rules until someone mentions it. Someone must have been offended, and obviously many of the employees of the school were offended. Now, I don't quite believe they would "make" her throw away her food, or drag her around the school, but the shirt having to be switched out is understandable.
In general, administrators are allowed to ask kids to remove clothing that can be disruptive. That's certainly true of this t-shirt, as well as pretty much any shirt for or against any divisive political issue. I think they were withing their right.
On an unrelated note, one of my friends got in trouble in high school for dressing up as Jesus. Do you think that should be allowed?
dress codes r like so dumb lolz
People should not be billboards.
I think she should have the right to wear the shirt, however, I am apt to question the motives of the parent, if they are indeed using their child as a 'billboard'. It's a difficult question, because on one hand, yes, the child may feel passionately about their parent's beliefs. However, this may change later on, and in fact, it usually does. So, encouraging your child to promote a belief of your own, rather than of their own, seems a bit sleazy.
Whatever. I can see both sides of the argument.
@kyleberg29@xanga - "You think 13 is perfectly capable of understanding abortion issues? Girls that age are barely capable of understanding much of anything if it does not include a Hannah Montana sticker. These kids are still worried about who's going to the dance with who and what the cafeteria is serving for lunch."
Stereotypical, much? I am 14 and I know very well what abortion is. And Hannah Montana's music is terrible.
Come on, we're people too.
@they_call_me_steffyjean@xanga - is it really hard to understand pro-life or pro-choice? you choose to kill a growing baby or you instead birth a child. not rocket science here..
@WalkingEncyclopedia@xanga - Actually, I would say that it is. I understand that they know what abortion is, but most kids don't UNDERSTAND why people have abortions ... or the bodly harm it may cause ... or even the harm it cause some women to carry the child full term. Not as simple as it seems.
@MasterShoe11@xanga - Haha, yeah I'm a person too! I don't think I fully understood what abortion was all about until I was about sixteen or sevent ... which was only a few years ago. lol
Considering the school houses the younger grades, wearing that shirt was inappropriate. Grades K through at least 5 don't see images like that in text books. Usually that doesn't start till grade 5 or 6, so wearing that shirt around the younger grades who won't understand wasn't the best of ideas. They had every right to make her remove the shirt. If she'd been in a junior high (housing grades 7 through 9), that would be different. Students in that age group have all seen those images and understand the message. If that had been the case and they made her remove it, then she'd have a case for lawsuit. But right now, she doesn't. She should have known not to wear something like that in a school full of younger kids.
@AmistadBaby@xanga - The pictures are in textbooks for the older students. Not the kindergarten, first, second, third, or fourth graders, and probably not the fifth graders either. All those students could have seen it, and they wouldn't understand. It's not appropriate to let her wear something like that around impressionable children who most likely don't understand what they're seeing. If it had been only older students in her school (junior high or high school level), that would be different. My school allowed the pro-life day with kids walking around with red duct tape over their mouths and on their shirts with abortion facts written on them. It's different at that level, where the only people seeing it are people who really understand and have their own opinions. When it's something around younger children, it's a much more touchy subject.
It's her right to wear the shirt but I don't really think she should be if she's a child who may not properly understand the message it holds. Especially if there're going to be other children who don't understand the message properly either. Maybe the mother should wear the shirt instead.
under the schools roof? under the schools rules. it sucks. me being pro choice and extremely loud ive had a lot of problems with my school. but you cant win...wait until you can get out to take action inside of a college or somethng
plus abortion is a tough and extremely sensitive issue. i dont think they would want some one walking around with a shirt that says kill a fetus..
If kids can wear shirts saying "God Rocks" or "I love Jesus" they should be able to wear shirts that talk about anything being pro-choice, being gay, or anything. And hell i think the shirt is funny. i want one.
I don't think they had a right to do that--freedome of speech. Besides, kids are getting a lot of potentially "offensive" material from their schools. Anyone who's ever been in public school or known people who were can tell you that students used "vulgar" and "offensive" words, and no one says anything about that. I think it's just biased--even though politics may be an issue, the school certainly seems to be leaning left rather than sitting center.
When I was in 10th grade I wore a shirt to school that said "I love my little ta-tas" and it was a shirt for breast cancer. My principal saw me wearing it, and told me to turn it inside out, I explained that it was for breast cancer and she said she supported the cause but thought the shirt was inappropriate, and brought another teacher over to agree with her. I thought this was ridiculous, especially since I was 16 years old.
So anyway, though I think its kind of weird that the mom dressed her elementary schooler in a giant billboard shirt, if there was no uniforms in the school, the child should have been able to wear it.
I think a 7th grader would have a pretty good idea of what abortion is, and I doubt that her parents forced her to wear it.