American student Paxton Smith canceled the graduation speech approved by her school administrators and instead issued a call for abortion rights in a message
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The speech that high school valedictorian Paxton Smith pulled from inside her graduation gown was not the one she had shown the school. So she took a deep breath before launching into it, wondering if she would be allowed to share her thoughts about Texas new restrictive abortion law. I cannot give up this platform to promote complacency and peace, when there is a war on my body and a war on my rights, Smith said in her speech at the graduation ceremony for Lake Highlands High School in Dallas.
Despite swapping her text, Smith finished her speech and got a rousing cheer from her classmates and staff. In the days since her address on Sunday, video of the event has gone viral, and Smith has been praised for speaking her mind.(You can read a full transcript of her speech below.)
In a graduation speech, Paxton Smith, 18, of Dallas said the new law, which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, was “a war on my body and a war on my rights.”