Some Iowa high school students are wearing t-shirts today with anti-abortion messages on them. The Iowa Family Policy Center in Des Moines is supporting the students and center president Chuck Hurley says it’s part of “National Pro-Life T-shirt Day.” Hurley says, “the goal is to sensitize their peers to the tragedy that is going on and that there is hope and help for those caught in the dilemma of an unwanted pregnancy.”
Hurley says two Des Moines Roosevelt High School students gained attention last year when Roosevelt administrators told them to remove their pro-life shirts or face discipline. Hurley says they’re ready for any such problems this year. Hurley says they sent an alert that if any students are having problems like last, then there are 12 lawyers willing to give free legal time to “defend their constitutional rights to speak up on behalf of the unborn.”
Hurley says the t-shirts do have an impact on kids. He says, “The testimonials are profound, they’re moving and they’re numerous.” Hurley says the t-shirts begin conversations in the schools where they’re worn. Hurley most teens are told that the unborn are “just a piece of tissue” and he says the t-shirts remind them that the unborn are little people, “and that what we’re doing with abortion is that we’re killing small children.”
Hurley says thousands of students nationwide are wearing the t-shirts today — while he estimates a couple of hundred Iowa students are taking part.