High school students across the metro area walked out of class Thursday in support of abortion rights.
At Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, about 150 students marched nearly 3 miles along a busy street, calling for Justice Samuel Alito to step down after his leaked draft opinion that would repeal Roe v. Wade, the legal precedent that makes abortion access a constitutional right.
“Hey hey, ho ho. Justice Alito has got to go,” the crowd chanted. Some drivers passing by honked in support. In some instances, passersby jeered at the students.
August Caudill, a freshman at Green Mountain, helped lead the march. Caudill said they helped organize the walk-out because they didn’t think their voice was being heard by the country’s highest court.
“Because I am a person with a uterus and thinking about getting pregnant now and not being able to get to something like an abortion is a very scary thing to think about,” Caudill said. “I just think it's really important that we give access to these kinds of things, because restricting it will cause more deaths than it stops.”
Students from East High School in Denver, Golden High School in Golden, and others also walked out of class on Thursday to support abortion rights.
“This is not just about women’s rights, it is human rights,” Golden High sophomore Rachel Volek said in a statement. “We have a responsibility to fight back and I would do the same for any human having their rights revoked.”
For the most part, school administrations supported their students’ desire to protest. At Green Mountain, school leaders marched with them.
“I was worried that they weren't going to, but our principal actually walked with us today, so that's really cool. The security guard from our school escorted us. I'm really thankful for everyone who came with us,” Caudill said.
Caudill said they’ll continue to find ways to support abortion rights in the immediate future.
“Going to Planned Parenthood, donating to things that will make it so abortion can still be safe in places, and making it so that states can't convict people for going to other states to get an abortion when it's been illegalized in their state,” they said.
The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet made a final decision regarding the fate of Roe v. Wade, but abortion rights advocates are preparing for what many see as an inevitable repeal of the half-century-old precedence.
If Roe v. Wade is indeed overturned, Colorado will become one of the few states in the region with abortion access, surrounded by several states with “trigger laws” that would ban abortions if the Supreme Court makes the decision to repeal.
Colorado and Roe v. Wade:
- Colorado abortion rights supporters take to the streets across the state in wake of Roe v. Wade opinion leak
- Protest voices: Roe v. Wade supporters rally across Colorado in wake of leaked Supreme Court opinion
- If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Colorado will become an island of abortion access
- A challenge to Colorado’s abortion law could come from a Weld County commissioner’s ‘human life sanctuary’ proposal
- Landmark bill protecting the right to an abortion in Colorado law is heading to the governor
- TABOR refunds, abortion rights, mental health and more: Here’s what the Colorado legislature did in 2022
