Skyline students gathered outside the student entrance at the beginning of second period in support of Proposal 3 on Monday, November 7th, just one day before it was to be voted on in a statewide election.
In the previous week, a post detailing the specifics of the event organized by O Pozenel circulated around the social media of Skyline students. Approximately 100 students attended the half-hour event.
The walkout coincided with news of litigation against Skyline on behalf of the Skyline Republican Club for being denied the ability to air an anti-Proposal 3 announcement over the school’s address system.
Abortion remained legal in Michigan before the November 2022 election, due to a preliminary injunction granted by Judge Jacob Cunningham which put on hold the 1931 law that bans abortion and subjects providers to felony charges. Without the injunction, this 1931 law would have been enacted after the Federal overturning of Roe v. Wade in June, 2022.
Proposal 3, which passed, establishes a “new individual right to reproductive freedom, including right to make and carry out all decisions about pregnancy, such as prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion, miscarriage management, and infertility,” according to Bridge Michigan.
During the protest Skyline Principal Cory McElmeel stated to students that “this is considered an unexcused absence. Please return to class.” A later comment by McElmeel confirmed this was done because “the day’s demonstration was not a school approved/sanctioned event, that all absences from class related to this demonstration were not excused, and to encourage students to return to class.”
The student-organized event ended with a march around the school grounds. Demonstrators chanted “My body, my choice,” and “People are not incubators.”
Several students stepped up to the open-mic. One told the crowd that “Some of us are not women. I am a man and I still might need to get an abortion.”
Another said, “Half of you guys are just here to skip, but whatever, that’s fine. Whatever support we can have for a person’s right to choose.”
Although the action did not directly influence any legislation, Skyline students made sure their voices were heard in the face of political turmoil.
