Schools generally have rules when it comes to dress codes. They don't want anyone to stand out (in a 'bad' way) or offend anyone... I'm sure if someone had a tshirt for Pro Choice the same thing would happen... When I was in high school, girls would wear mini skirts and tube tops pretty much (this was only 2002-2006, slutty NJ btw) BUT if a guy had a curse or a picture/suggestion to drugs/alcohol/violence/ anything 'innapropriate' on it, they were forced to change it or put tape over the word/picture... so ridiculous.

I don't think it matters if she's a girl or not - it was a violation of the dress code, in my opinion. The topic of abortion IS inappropriate for a middle school. It's a very delicate topic, and difficult to debate/discuss in a middle school environment. This girl and the kids in her classes are 12 or 1

or 13 years old. Teachers are generally not allowed to discuss those sorts of things with students, and are definitely not allowed to give an opinion.

Parents would been equally upset had she not be asked to change, if they didn't want their child(ren) to see something which many would consider inappropriate. The school was damned if they did, damned if they didn't, I guess.

Courts have pretty much always upheld the right of schools to control the dress code, especially when it comes to things that could be considered obscene or offensive. Although the First Amendment does exist in schools, it is not the same as it is in public. I don't think this girl has much of a leg to stand on, legally.

This is inappropriate for school wear. When I was in HS in NJ, our dress code changed when I was a freshman. They banned anything revealing, including spaghetti strap shirts, so if you came to school in a mini skirt, you would be sent home to change immediately. If a shirt like this was worn, they would do the same. At the school I teach at now, the dress code is about the same, and if I saw my student wearing this shirt, I would totally not be okay with it.

But it's the same with Pro-Choice shirts as well. There is a time and a place for these arguments. They just shouldn't be made on a shirt, or in a way that someone may find offensive.

I think she should be allowed to wear it. It's not that different than wearing arm bands to protest war.

I think it's a big difference between arm bands and a t-shirt with pictures on. If someone made an arm band for pro-life, one should be allowed to wear them in school. On the other hand, everyone agrees that war in general is bad, not everyone agrees on pro-life/pro-choice.

Talk about proselytizing...

When I was 13, I had dang near no opinion about abortion. This shirt should absolutely be banned. I know, at the tender age of 13 (though I guess 13 year-olds are less tender nowadays) I'd be pretty grossed out and VERY distracted by a shirt like that.

i don't find it appropriate at all
its about spreading political views and promoting controversial perspective in a place of learning

well, that's fine. i assume that i would be allowed to wear a shirt with a dead baby joke on it then, right?

As long as I can wear a Pro-Choice shirt.

Yeah, I think she should be able to wear that, and everybody else can wear whatever they want as well.

Free speech, people. Are you really so eager to censor? Of course she can wear that.

I think this shirt is crossing the line. To me, anything with religious or political views generally shouldn't be worn in public schools. College is another situation, but middle school, high school? Nah.

When I was in school they barely let us TALK about abortion, let alone wear shirts with a POV on it...

It's not very appropriate to wear a shirt like that to school. I think it would cause a distraction.

i think its completely inappropriate. i believe in the 1st amendment and i'm pro-choice, but i think its disctracting for a public middle school. personally, i don't agree w/ abortion, but i do think we (women) have the right to choose. schools have the right to enforce a dress code...especially in a MIDDLE SCHOOL where kids can be very mean and immature to begin with. the point of dress codes is to avoid distracting clothing.

FYI-i went to a catholic school my entire life and have always had to wear a uniform. i don't buy the crap about that interfering with freedom of speech or not being able to express your selves. your should be able to express yourselves in other, more meaningful ways than the way your dressed.

I have no problem with her wearing the shirt, I have a problem with her wearing it to school. It is not appropriate for school and considering that the dress code states anything that suggests "tobacco, drug or alcohol use, sexual promiscuity, profanity, vulgarity, or other inappropriate subject matter." I think it falls into the inappropriate for school if her school does not teach sex ed.

not all first amendment rights are allowed in schools. As anonymous said, the supreme court usually upholds this. A school has a right to ban any speech or images that are controversial and detract from a safe and comfortable learning environment. This has happened with people writing controversial articles for school news papers as well. I would see no problem with her wearing this to a mall or something. It's just the place that makes it so inappropriate.

I'm the first one to stand up against governmental censorship but schools do have dress codes. If the parents don't agree with that school's rules, they can either send her to a private school or home-school her. Besides, I get the feeling that she wore the shirt at her parents' encouragement with the intent of starting a controversy. They had to know what would happen.

The poor girl. Seventh grade? How can someone that young possibly understand this topic?

"On the other hand, everyone agrees that war in general is bad, not everyone agrees on pro-life/pro-choice" The whole purpose of the First Amendment is to protect unpopular speech. Let me just say that I don't agree with the student's viewpoint at all, but I think it's sad how people seem to be fine with banning political speech in school.

A friend of mine in high school had to turn his shirt inside out because it said Dayglo Abortions on it... we tried to explain to the teacher that it was the name of a band and provided no commentary on actual abortion, and that even if it did we went to a public school where it shouldn't matter... she told us it was a sensitive topic and our public school had a "wide Christian base" so it had to go.

I still think that was totally unfair of her, just like I think it's unfair to stop this girl from wearing what she wants. I support a Woman's Right to Choose (her T-Shirt)!

Weffie - Agreed. A public school teacher should NOT be banning speech on the basis that it would offend a "Christian" base.

It's people like this who abuse the school dress code policy that make schools adopt uniforms.

I think she should be able to wear it. It was national pro life T shirt day. It's not like she was wearing it for fun. I don't think she should be censored at all. I think that's ridiculous.

#9 - "promoting controversial perspective in a place of learning " - This is HOW one learns.

The shirt is graphic, I am not sure about not letting her wear it. However - I think the school should be more clear about their dress code. All their descriptions are subjective. What does "inappropriate" mean? I know alot of people though red lipstick and nail polish was inappropriate when I was 12-13 yrs old. Should that not be allowed? Is it vulgar to wear a skirt above the knee or ankles even?

I went to school in NYC by the way. I think the school should say - plain t shirts only. no designs. period.

UGH. It's a violation, it's dumb, don't do it, get over yourself, you're there to learn, just wear the damn t-shirt after school. What happened to common f**king sense?

I totally agree, Amanda. I have to say more about this.

When I was 16, I protested my public school to implement mandatory school prayer. We all waited for noon, and then went to the flag pole and had a public prayer. We were all suspended for a week for disrupting our school. (I know this is hard to believe because I am so liberal now, but it's true. I was a Christian superstar!)

The whole experience taught me one thing. High school was a lot less about learning, and a lot more about the insecurities and politics of the adults involved.

How quickly we forget what it was like to be in 7th grade! She has every right to speak her mind, to represent what she believes, and to grow. I really can't believe so many people here support censorship!

First amendment rights are a tricky thing in schools, particularly public schools... Normally I don't support censorship, but I don't think this is a case of straight censorship... If a student wore a shirt saying something to the effect of "All Mexicans should be deported NOW" it should be banned as well. Technically it doesn't violate the school policy until you take into account the last phrase "other inappropriate subject matter." The school policy is in place for a good reason, to prevent conflicts between already hormonal and easily agitated teenagers who may/may not have intelligently formed opinions about a divisive subject... Heck, it's hard for adults to have a civilized conversation about abortion, let alone teens. Kids' opinions about stuff like this generally come from their parents, right or wrong, and can cause conflicts with their peers.

This kinda has the ring of the article here on Tres about the mom who encouraged her 5 year old to take the Bible as his favorite book when it turned out it was just because she wanted to preach to the class...

Even with it being National Pro-Life T-shirt day the school has a right to determine if a subject is too controversial to be worn as a t-shirt (I'd say this encompasses religion, immigration politics, party politics, heck, ANY politics, racist/sexist jokes, etc). Students need a safe place to learn, and divisive statements made via t-shirt can impede that. If the girl feels that strongly about the subject she can put on the shirt as soon as she gets home, walk around the neighborhood telling people her views, pass out pamplets, etc, and as long as it's not at school it's all good.

The school has a dress code, which she broke. It doesn't matter that it was Nation Pro-Life T-Shirt Day; the school still had a dress code. If you don't like the dress code, you should go to a different school. That shirt is obviously not appropriate for school; use common sense.

If there's a club with rules, and you break those rules, it's perfectly reasonable for someone to kick you out of the club. If you don't like the rules, find a different club.

Give me a break. They should've banned all the "Beat Bush" or "Not my president" shirts people used to wear, but no, these liberal administrators just eat it all up. As soon as it's some sort of conservative tee, it's banned. Such hypocrites.

I think this girl should have been aborted!

I agree, FaerieBlu, and if I went to school with her, I would have gone up and said that to her. That would probably disrupt class, so I think the shirt should be banned, just like any other controversial shirt. If she wants to talk about it, she can go to her Family Life class and blab on about it.

I think they should know better this is innapropriate..all im hearing is it violates free speech, I think this abuses free speech. come on I dont want to see this in school and I dont think middle school kids do either. its distracting. another reason why schools should wear uniforms

Maybe - her shirt screams TARGET for flicking rubber bands at. Who cares about the message - what parent lets their child out of the house wearing a picture of a fetus on their chest?

Excuse me, you think she should have been aborted for promoting the saving of lives? That's repulsive.

This T shirt is going to be worn around 7 and 8 year olds whose parents may not want them exposed to this. She goes to a K-8 school. I am pretty sure that this not appropriate for a 5 year old to see and it definitely is not that little girl's place to explain abortion to that child when they ask.

Amanda-la, she is not promoting the saving of lives. She is promoting the ruining of women's lives who can't handle a baby. The fetus might not even be able to feel pain yet, but the mother sure can and having a child when she is not ready could have a horrible affect on her mental health. I think that the life of a grown woman is a thousand times more important than a fetus that could easily grow up to be a waste of space on this planet.

1- There is a time and a place for things like these, like crusades, but school is not one of them. I find it astonishing that she wore this thinking she was appropriate at all.
2- I do think she has the right to speak her mind, but this goes back to my number one.
3- How would people react to a pro-choice shirt? It could be considerably less offensive in tone but people would still freak out.
Bottom line, she will grow up to be a neo-con regardless but the shirt stays at home during school hours.

Anonymous, moral issues aside. You said you wish she was aborted. That is disgusting to me. I'm surprised more people aren't speaking out about that comment.

Rather, she said. Pardon me.

she obviously understood the meaning behind her shirt.. I applaud her for wearing this shirt. Even though I am pro-choice, she has her own mind and can make her own decisions. I'm not going to force my own beliefs on others. It's not as though she lacks a brain. And if people are offended, they can suck it up and realize that simply a middle schooler who is showing what she personally believes is right.

What I find highly "laughable" about most of these comments, is that you are overlooking the fact that sex education starts in 6th grade. That's right one year before, this so called uneducated, immature 7th grader formed an opinion, they found her mature enough to teach her about sex. Lo and behold in 7th grade she formed an opinion that having an abortion meant outright MURDER of a human being, and now all of a sudden....ohhhh don't talk about controversial subjects you are too young and uneducated to talk about. No pleasing you people. Abortion /adoption argument should be taught as an extension of the sex education class.

Even if she did make an educated decision, a shirt is not the place to have an argument, and especially not at school. There's a time and place for these things, and that was not it.

To everyone who says that she is old enough to make a decision: What about the kindergarten or third graders who will see her in that shirt and ask questions? Are they old enough?

She goes to a K-8 school. No matter how you cut it school is not the place for this shirt.

I think divinedebris made perfect sense. Take an active role in promoting your social and political beliefs but do it outside of freaking middle school.

It is a pro-life week shirt, anyone no matter where should be able to wear what they believe. It shows the wrong side of abortion, the killing of an innocent human being. I will definitely wear one next year to show my support and that I am happy to be Pro-Life 100% of the way!!!

Unbelievable ignorance, hypocrisy & hatred shown with some of these comments. This seventh-grader "isn't old enough to understand abortion", yet most here evidently support her right to obtain one. Does that make any freakin' sense? Another 'expert' says this behavior is the impetus for school uniforms. Sorry, Sweetie, but as a middle school teacher, I can affirm the fact that it is the cleavage revealing tops, thong-revealing jeans, and saggy, underwear-revealing pants that leads to the cry for school uniforms...NOT "political" tee-shirts. As for being "inappropriate"...since when is the sight of a growing fetus considered "inappropriate" for an educational environment that promotes sex education? It's not like there were pictures of aborted, torn-apart fetuses. Yes, let's tell these children that fetuses are nasty, ugly little things...or, better yet, just tell them that the stork delivered them. I guess that the tee-shirts advocating 'tolerance' and 'diversity' should also be banned because they are controversial & could start arguments...especially from those posters who said they wished that the girl had been killed. Well, at least we see the true "tolerance" expressed by the crowd who thinks like that.

I don't really agree with her wearing it to school. I feel she has every right to wear it out, but not to a school, and not especially to a school that has younger kids in it. These are topics that you discuss with your children on your own time. I dont believe in censorship, like those crazies that want to take books off library shelves, but school isnt the apropriate place for tshirts like this.

I woudlnt really feel that strongly about it if it was only a middle school 6-8th grade, to be honest. I would be livid if i had to explain to my young child what abortion was and why a girl had pictures of a baby and then nothing. They are simply too young and sensitive to be forced to deal with the fact that sometimes babies are terminated mid pregnancy, it gets into death, choosing someone elses death, why someone would choose to do it, and a whole bang of other issues.

Symphonee pointed out a crucial detail, she goes to a K-8 school, not a 7th - 8th grade middle school, little children will be seeing it. School dress codes are in place for a reason. If that girl wanted to wear her shirt, fine, but not at school, save it for the mall or where ever kids go these days.

Pleeb - Actually in my area, it starts in 4th grade WITH permission from parents. I'm almost positive sex education is also optional through middle school here, so who knows, maybe she's not really educated, maybe she's just speaking the views of her parents.