Teen Wins Fight for Antiabortion Club at School

Hoffmeier spoke with The Washington Post accompanied by a lawyer and her parents. Heath and Bernadette Hoffmeier, who are Baptists, said that they are proud of their daughter and that they support her fight.

"I was excited to see kids standing up for their rights," Bernadette Hoffmeier said. Heath Hoffmeier added: "I just think this is the way God is shaping her life."

Signs of the teenager's belief were visible all around. A white Bible dominated the coffee table in front of the couch where she sat, contrasting with her black T-shirt. On the front, the shirt proclaimed: "Some choices are wrong." On the back: "Abortion is forever." On her shiny red drum set in the basement were stickers that read "Hard Core Jesus Freak" and "She's a child. Not a choice."

Hoffmeier said she did not worry when she received a letter from school officials in August rejecting her proposal.

"I just prayed and asked for God's will to be done," she said.

With aid from the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, Hoffmeier filed suit Sept. 12, charging that her constitutional free-speech rights had been violated. Stafford schools had recognized such clubs as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Key Club, Young Republicans and Young Democrats, according to the suit.

"There is a discomfort with religious speech in the schools, even when it's engaged in by students, which should not be the case," said David Cortman, a lawyer with the defense fund. "Once they open up the facility to clubs, merely . . . allowing a religious club in the mix does not promote religion."

The Defense Fund has handled hundreds of cases across the nation involving schools that have resisted religious speech by students, fund spokesman Greg Scott said.

Ayesha N. Khan, legal director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said there is often confusion about whether religious speech is allowed in public schools. She said there is a distinction between the private speech of students and the government speech of school employees. The federal Equal Access Act forbids schools from denying student-run clubs based on a club's religious or other perspective, she said. For instance, students also have the right to start an abortion-rights club, although local school officials said they were unaware of any.

"We need to treat students who are private individuals different than we treat government employees," Khan said.

Stafford Deputy Superintendent Andre A. Nougaret said that the school board's policy was not as clear as it could have been and that it will be reviewed soon. "Certainly, I think we're going to have to do a better job in educating the school community and being consistent in our practice," he said.

When the Pro-Life Club met for the first time a few weeks ago, students gathered in a classroom after school, participating in what was mostly a question-and-answer session, Hoffmeier said.

"I'm just the one who took action," Hoffmeier said, noting the turnout of about 20 students. "But there are many others -- many, many others."