High school valedictorian speeches can be kind of boring. There’s a lot of generic stuff about embracing the future and making the most of your time, and blah blah blah. No one really wants to rock the boat on their way out.
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Paxton Smith, the valedictorian of Lake Highlands High School’s Class of 2021, decided to go with what was most important to her: abortion rights.
Smith originally intended to talk about media consumption and how it has shaped the way she sees the world. Her speech was approved, and she was ready to go.
But she was struggling with the growing unease regarding the erosion of reproductive rights across America—especially the “heartbeat bill” that Gov. Greg Abbott had signed into law last month. Basically, this law prohibits abortion as early as six weeks—before most women know they are even pregnant—and does not take into consideration whether or not the pregnancy has resulted from incest or rape.
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So Smith talked with her three parents about the decision to switch her speech and address abortion rights in America. Two of her parents approved the new speech, one wasn’t super excited about it but decided to keep mum.
Smith knew her speech might cause controversy, but she believed her message was important.
“As we leave high school we need to make our voices heard. I was going to get up here and talk to you about TV and content and media because those are things that are very important to me. However, in light of recent events, it feels wrong to talk about anything but what is currently affecting me and millions of other women in this state,” Smith began.
“Recently the heartbeat bill was passed in Texas. Starting in September, there will be a ban on abortions that take place after 6 weeks of pregnancy, regardless of whether the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest. 6 weeks. Most women don’t even realize they’re pregnant by then. And so, before they have the time to decide if they are emotionally, physically, and financially stable enough to carry out a full-term pregnancy, before they have the chance to decide if they can take on the responsibility of bringing another human into the world, the decision has been made for them by a stranger. A decision that will affect the rest of their lives.”
“I have dreams, hopes, and ambitions. Every girl here does. We have spent our whole lives working towards our futures, and without our consent or input, our control over our futures has been stripped away from us. I am terrified that if my contraceptives fail me, that if I’m raped, then my hopes and efforts and dreams for myself will no longer be relevant. I hope you can feel how gut-wrenching it is, how dehumanizing it is, to have the autonomy over your own body taken from you.”
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“And I’m talking about this today, on a day as important as this, on a day honoring the students’ efforts in twelve years of schooling, on a day where we’re all brought together, on a day where you will be the most inclined to hear a voice like mine, a woman’s voice, to tell you that this is a problem. A problem that can’t wait. I refuse to give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights. A war on the rights of your sisters, a war on the rights of your mothers, a war on the rights of your daughters.”
Two days after her speech, Smith reflected on her experience: “It feels great. It also feels a little weird. Whenever I have opinions that can be considered political or controversial, I keep them to myself because I don’t like to gain attention for that kind of stuff. But I’m glad that I could do something, and I’m glad that it’s getting attention. It just feels weird for me personally, that I’m linked to the attention that the speech got.”
Smith is headed to UT Austin, where she says she does not know what she plans to study yet.
Maybe political science?
Lead Image: YouTube
*First Published: June 2, 2021, 9:19 am
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