Saturday, September 21

Dallas student delivered speech against Texas abortion ban. The video went viral and Hillary Clinton praised the young woman


The video where Paxton Smith appears, the best student of the year 2018 of Lake Highlands High, rejecting the anti-abortion bill in Texas was praised by comedian Sarah Silverman and former presidential candidate

Estudiante de Dallas pronunció discurso contra la prohibición del aborto en Texas. El video se hizo viral y Hillary Clinton elogió a la joven
The issue of abortion is controversial and divisive.

Photo: AP Photo / Susan Walsh

Maria Ortiz

The speech that the student Paxton Smith delivered an anti-abortion speech at the ceremony of graduation from your school at Dallas , which was not the one he had shown the

Smith later recounted taking a deep breath before starting it, wondering if he would be allowed to share his thoughts on the new restrictive abortion law in Texas .

“I can’t give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war against my body and a war against my rights ”, Smith said in his speech at the Lake Highlands High School graduation ceremony at Dallas .

Despite changing his speech, Smith finished it and received a standing ovation from his classmates and school staff.

In the days since her speech on Sunday, the event video has gone viral and Smith has been praised for saying what you think.

“I have dreams , hopes and ambitions. All the girls who graduate today have them. ” said Smith. Later he added: “And without our input and without our consent, our control over that future has been taken from us.”

Smith concluded his speech by saying, “We cannot remain silent.” His commencement speech occurred less than two weeks after the Governor of Texas , Greg Abbott, will enact new restrictions prohibiting abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected, at six weeks of pregnancy.

As Smith pointed out, many women don’t realize they are pregnant at six weeks. The law does not allow exceptions for cases of rape or incest.

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Smith says he has received hundreds of messages of support, as videos of his graduation speech were widely shared on social media.

In many ways, the speech came out better than anticipated, especially since the school had raised the possibility that comments would be interrupted if they diverged from the approved script.

“I thought the microphone was going to cut in a couple of minutes, but it didn’t, ”Smith told the local television station WFAA in Dallas.

In the days after, the video of his graduation speech posted on social media and widely retweeted, went viral and has received praise from the comedian Sarah Silverman , who tweeted, “Brave ”, And former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton , who tweeted: “This took guts. Thank you for not keeping quiet, Paxton. ”

This took guts. Thank you for not staying silent, Paxton. https://t.co/DlwEgmMRGN

– Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton)

June 2, 2021

The Richardson Independent School District, of which it is a part Lake Highlands, was less enthusiastic, saying in a statement that it would review student speech protocols before next year’s graduation ceremonies.