Last week during her high school graduation, Lake Highlands High School valedictorian Paxton Smith went dramatically off-script of her pre-approved speech to her classmates to share her thoughts on “reproductive rights” for women and why abortion matters. She specifically called out the “heartbeat bill” recently passed through the Texas state legislature banning abortions after a heartbeat can be detected, or about 6 weeks.

Paxton said, “I am terrified that if I am raped, then my hopes and aspirations and dreams and efforts for my future will no longer matter. I hope that you can feel how gut-wrenching that is, I hope that you can feel how dehumanizing it is, to have the autonomy over your own body taken from you.” She went on to add, “There is a war on my body and a war on my rights. A war on the rights of your sisters, a war on the rights of your mothers, a war on the rights of your daughters.”

Paxton’s passion was tangible, which is why the speech went viral on social media and almost undoubtedly why she received praise from pro-abortion, leftist Hilary Clinton:

This took guts. Thank you for not staying silent, Paxton. https://t.co/DlwEgmMRGN
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 2, 2021

However, she gets everything wrong about abortion. Here’s what you need to know:

An unplanned or unexpected pregnancy does not “steal your hopes and aspirations and dreams and efforts for [your] future.” Things may not be as easy as you anticipated or simply different than you anticipated, but children are a beautiful gift from God no matter how they come into our lives. There are options out there, like adoption, that also allows for you to keep your plans on track without ending the life of an innocent human being. I can’t tell you how many interviews I’ve watched, books I’ve read, or videos I’ve seen on social media that share stories of women who thought their life was over with a capital “O” when they found themselves unexpectedly pregnant, but now find their lives to be fuller and more meaningful than they ever dreamed with the blessing of their child.
The only part of abortion that is “dehumanizing” or “taking away bodily autonomy” is through ending the life of a genetically unique human being who doesn’t have a voice in the process–an innocent, unborn child. Pro-abortion activists and advocates rarely refer to an unborn child as a “human,” “baby,” or “child”–most often, you’ll hear them use the word “fetus” or even “clump of cells.” They also tend to avoid the word “abortion,” replacing it with “termination of a pregnancy” instead. Why? Because they are directly dehumanizing the baby who has yet to be born. This beautiful, innocent child has zero bodily autonomy during an abortion procedure, regardless of the fact they have a unique genetic makeup, may have a beating heart, or may even be able to feel pain. Abortion is inhumane to the child and the mother and is the true “dehumanizing” reality.
There is no “war” on “women’s rights” happening through the process of educating women on abortion and dreaming of a post-abortion generation–the term “women’s rights” is a euphemism used by pro-abortion advocates to politically accomplish their goals and mask what is actually happening. Live Action, a pro-life organization founded by Lila Rose, shares on their website: “THE RIGHT TO LIBERTY DOESN’T GIVE US LICENSE TO HARM OTHER HUMAN BEINGS. For example, someone may have the freedom to throw a ball, but that doesn’t give him or her license to throw that ball into the head of a toddler. Abortion is analogous to the latter — inflicting harm on a separate, distinct human being — and liberty rights were never designed to allow for that. Moreover, of those two rights, life and liberty, one is more foundational: the right to life, which means it gets priority when the two are in conflict.” Truly standing for women’s rights would involve standing for the human rights, and our most basic human right to life, for all women, including the unborn little girls who do not yet have a voice and rely on their “sisters and mothers,” as Paxton identified them, to speak up.

Women deserve better than abortion, and it’s time for all of us to speak the truth now more than ever. But, unfortunately, young women in America are not being taught the truth whatsoever about abortion–they’re being lied to that this is the most empowering thing we can offer society. Wrong–life is empowering, and it’s worth protecting.