Paxton Smith originally planned to talk about television and the media \u2013 and that\u2019s the topic district administrators signed off on \u2013 but events in Austin changed her mind.<\/b>
\nDALLAS \u2014 Paxton Smith pulled the folded-up piece of paper from underneath her red graduation robe. It wasn\u2019t the valedictorian speech she originally prepared, the one that was approved by administrators at Lake Highlands High School. Instead, she decided to use her three minutes on stage to decry the so-called heartbeat bill, legislation signed recently by Gov. Greg Abbott that will essentially ban most abortions in Texas. It felt wrong, she said, to talk about anything else. \u201cI have dreams and hopes and ambitions. Every girl graduating today does,\u201d she told her fellow graduates and their families Sunday. \u201cWe have spent our entire lives working towards our future and \u2014 without our input and without our consent \u2014 our control over that future has been stripped away from us.\u201d The legislation she spoke out against would ban abortion as early as six weeks into a pregnancy \u2014 before many women know they\u2019re pregnant \u2014 and allow any private citizen to sue abortion providers who violate the restriction. It goes into effect Sept.1. It includes an exception if the life of the woman is in danger but does not have any exceptions for rape or incest. That\u2019s \u201cgut-wrenching\u201d and \u201cdehumanizing,\u201d said Smith,18, who plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin. \u201cI am terrified that if my contraceptives fail, I am terrified that if I am raped, then my hopes and aspirations and dreams and efforts for my future will no longer matter,\u201d she said, as many in the audience cheered. As she sat in the band hall earlier this school year, she couldn\u2019t get her mind off the legislation barreling ahead in Austin. So she started writing this alternative speech instead. Smith originally planned to talk about television and the media \u2014 and that\u2019s the topic district administrators signed off on. Richardson ISD officials will review student speech protocols ahead of next year\u2019s graduation programs, district spokesman Tim Clark said. Every RISD graduation program reads: \u201cThe students who shall be speaking at the graduation ceremony were selected based on neutral criteria to deliver messages of the students\u2019 own choices. The content of each student speaker\u2019s message is the private, voluntary expression of the individual student and does not reflect the endorsement, sponsorship, position or expression of the District or its employees.\u201d Her speech has attracted massive attention. After D magazine wrote about it, Hillary Clinton tweeted: \u201cThis took guts. Thank you for not staying silent, Paxton.\u201d Smith said her phone has been blowing up with an \u201coverwhelmingly positive\u201d response. Parents have reached out to thank her. As she approached the podium Sunday, Smith worried the microphone would be cut off once she got started. She knows many in her community are politically conservative. She wondered at first whether the ceremony was the right time or place for her speech. But at a rally, she figured, everyone already agreed with her. During graduation, she had a captive audience of people with all different perspectives. Plus, as she said during her speech, it was a day that \u201cyou are most inclined to listen to a voice like mine \u2014 a woman\u2019s voice \u2014 to tell you that this is a problem. \u201cAnd it is a problem that cannot wait.\u201d The video can be found at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mrfe27VDuRA Comments are not available on this story. Send questions\/comments to the editors. \u00ab Previous<\/p>\n