CHAPEL HILL — As the clock struck 1:45 p.m., a sea of students dressed in pink marched down the stairs of Woods Charter School, through the cafeteria, past the principal’s office and outside to the field behind the school.
A total of 114 students from the middle and high school staged a walkout in the middle of class on Tuesday, May 17, in support of reproductive rights, following the leaked draft opinion showing the U.S. Supreme Court may move to overturn Roe v. Wade — a bedrock reproductive rights case.
Woods Charter saw a majority of its high schoolers walk out for the cause despite threats of punishment, including lunch detention and even possible suspension. Enrollment at the Chapel Hill-based public charter school is about 180.
The students gathered in a circle on the field as organizers spoke about the importance of reproductive rights.
“You cannot prevent abortions, just safe ones,” said junior Maddie Sparrow in her speech to fellow students. “We cannot return to the dark ages of reproductive history, and that is why Roe v. Wade must be upheld. We will not stand for valuing the life of an unborn fetus over a living human being.”
The whole event took a little more than 20 minutes. Student organizers said they believed it was minimally disruptive, but successful.
“A lot of us were feeling really anxious after that decision was leaked,” junior Nina Carroll said. “But walking out there and seeing the support really did help calm me down.”
Carroll, Sparrow and Emma Hobbs, and Jana Thompson organized the walkout. Each help lead the school’s Girls Learn International club (GLI), which empowers and educates middle and high school students to advocate for human rights, equality and universal education in the U.S. and around the world.
“I think it was really important for us to have this event that showed solidarity,” Hobbs told the News + Record. “A lot of people were questioning ‘Why are doing this? It’s not going to make an actual change,’ but for us, it’s about showing support.”
Hobbs said the idea to stage the walkout came during a weekly club meeting for GLI. Once the school heard about the plans, however, the student leaders received some pushback. Sparrow said the administration didn’t support the walkout because it disrupted class time and could lead to pro-life counter protests.
“We were called into the office the day of the walkout and given a spiel on why we shouldn’t do this,” Sparrow said.
According to the student organizers, the school said it could not support the walkout because it was a political issue. The principal of the school could not be reached for comment by the News + Record at the time of publication.
Initially, the four students decided to cancel the walkout after learning of possible punishment, but eventually, agreed they were unphased by the potential consequences.
So far, at the time of publication, no Woods Charter School students have been punished by the school for participating in the walkout.
Organizers alleged on the day of the walkout that High School Director Adrienne Berg attempted to dissuade them from participating in the walkout given the student leaders’ positions as part of a female education club.
The students said Berg asked if it was “ironic” for them to walk out of class because GLl advocates for women’s continued education.
“There’s a direct correlation between teen pregnancy and education, so this is something that directly impacts our education,” Hobbs said. “So I don’t really think it’s ironic that we are walking out of class.”
They also said Berg repeatedly asked to change the time of the walkout to during lunch or after school.
“The point of a walkout is to be a disruption and get everyone’s attention,” Hobbs said. “We weren’t going to just do this when it was convenient for our administration.”
Berg, when contacted by the News + Record, declined to comment.
Research from the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign shows teenagers who become pregnant are 27% more likely to drop out of school and 50% more likely to fail their classes and need to repeat grades. The research also shows teenagers reporting a pregnancy lose, on average, the equivalent of 1.8 years of education.
“We knew the school couldn’t openly support us,” Thompson said. “We didn’t want to involve them in our planning, which became a bit of a roadblock for us.”
Yet, while the organizers said they understood the school could not openly support missing class time, they did not expect the backlash and criticism they received from Berg.
“The whole conversation I just felt this harshness,” Carroll said. “It felt like the director was trying to discredit or disprove what we were trying to do and tell us we weren’t doing anything by doing this.”
Other schools in the area staged similar walkouts in support of reproductive rights, including Culbreth Middle School, Carrboro High School, Chapel Hill High School and more.
The organizers at Woods Charter said this was about showing people in the school and surrounding community that young people care about reproductive rights and are willing to fight for them.
“As young people, it’s really important that we band together and show our support for this cause,” Thompson said. “This is our future. Ultimately, this is the reality we are stepping into, and we need to make it clear what our stance is.”
Reporter Ben Rappaport can be reached at brappaport@chathamnr.com or on Twitter @b_rappaport.