Austin ISD students walk out of classes to support abortion rights
Hundreds of Austin students walked out of class for about an hour on Thursday in support of abortion rights.
Students — mostly at high school campuses across the Austin district — organized mass walkouts for 49 minutes to mark 49 years since Roe v. Wade, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that recognized a right to abortion.
About a week ago, Politico reported on a leaked draft opinion suggesting a majority of Supreme Court justices are preparing to overturn the ruling. Abortion still remains legal, although Texas has one of the nation's strictest abortion laws that bans the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy.
High schoolers planned protests at Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Stephen F. Austin High School, the Liberal Arts and Science Academy and other schools in the Austin area, according to the Instagram page for The Coalition Austin, a student-run social justice group that organized the walkouts.
More: Abortion Rights Protest in Austin following leaked draft that would overturn Roe v. Wade
At Austin High School, more than a dozen students spoke in favor of abortion rights after a crowd of people shouted chants as they walked to the track field, including “Abortion is a human right. C’mon, c’mon join the fight.”
Protesters also carried signs reading “Pro-choice is pro-life” and “Women’s rights are human rights.”
Nina Eckhart, a senior and organizer of the Austin High School walkout, said she supports abortion rights because she believes it should be a woman's choice on whether to have an abortion. She said it does not make sense for other people to be choosing whether someone else can get an abortion.
“What they are doing isn't just about abortions,” Eckhart said. “It’s about privacy to not only choose (to get an abortion) but also choose what you end up doing with that baby. ... It's important to get your voice out, especially in the streets, and when you're going to institutions like a school, it's important to kind of tell them, ‘This is what's happening.’”
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The walkouts came after multiple protests in Austin and around the country over the past week in support of abortion rights, including a protest last week by University of Texas students and other activists at the Capitol.
Beatriz Ulian, an Austin High senior, said she attended the protest because she was upset to learn that the Supreme Court was considering overturning Roe v. Wade. She said a walkout was one of the only ways people in power would stop ignoring students and listen to them.
“Having a child has so many health risks that if they just aren't mentally prepared, or physically prepared, they shouldn't have to force themselves to go for that,” Ulian said. “It takes so much out of you mentally and financially to raise a kid, and I feel like if they're just not ready for it, they shouldn't have to be forced to have a kid.”
More: Abortion would be illegal in Texas if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade
Ulian and Taryn Quinlivan, another Austin High senior who attended the protest, wore tank tops that said, “Keep Your Laws Off My Body.” Quinlivan made the shirts and handed them out to her friends.
“If you’re raped or if you don't want a kid, there's absolutely no reason you should be forced to have one,” Quinlivan said. “That's one of the most painful things a person with a uterus can go through, and I don't think that should be forced upon anyone.”
Correction: This story incorrectly identified the organizer of the walkout. Her name is Nina Eckhart, not Nora.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin ISD students walk out to support abortion rights
