Hundreds of Henrico students walk out of school in support of abortion rights

High-schoolers across Henrico County walked out of their schools by the hundreds on Monday afternoon in support of abortion accessibility, in light of the draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would end a federal guarantee of abortion rights granted under the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Students held signs that read, “a gun shouldn’t have more rights than me,” “no uterus, no opinion,” and “if you can’t trust us with a choice, how can you trust us with a child.”

At Henrico High School, about 300 students marched from the parking lot to the football field chanting and waving signs.

15-year-old Riley H., a freshman at Henrico High, helped organize the walkout.

“It felt very loving,” Riley told the Citizen. “The crowd was electric and it just felt like a big supportive hug for everybody there with all their support.”

Simultaneously, more than 200 students walked out the front doors of J.R. Tucker High School on Monday afternoon.

Surrounded by teachers and school administrators, students gave speeches about reproductive rights.

Aly, a 15-year-old freshman who helped organize the rally, said the intent was to prove that youth’s voices in the conversations about reproductive rights matter as much as adults’.

A similar scene played out at Glen Allen High School, where more than 100 students marched onto the football field and listened to students give speeches through a megaphone.

“Show them that this is not over,” one student shouted.

The walkouts were organized by the students with the help of Generation Ratify, a youth-led organization which advocates to advance gender equality. The group helped organize walkouts at more than 45 high schools across Virginia, according to state director Abby Garber.

“It's been humbling to see the response and see just how much is it Gen Z cares about abortion access, and how ready we are to do whatever we can to protect it,” Garber said. “Gen Z is prepared to do what we can to ensure that we are not the post-Roe generation.”

On Monday morning, Henrico County Public Schools emailed an advisory to all families and staff about the walkouts.

“While the school division continues to be supportive of students and their right to demonstrate peacefully, we will neither condone nor support the act of leaving school grounds without permission during the instructional day,” the email read. “We expect students will attend classes for the full day… Students who leave school grounds without permission may face a consequence in accordance with the code of student conduct. School board policy precludes employees from engaging in any activity supporting or opposing a partisan political cause while on duty, while on school property during school hours, or while representing the school division.”

Students at both Henrico High and Tucker said that school administration was “very supportive,” and nobody got in trouble.