Teen Valedictorian’s Pro-Choice Speech

PAXTON SMITH, TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL VALEDICTORIAN: Well, I was sitting in the band hall, and I was trying to finish an assignment for my psychology class. And I couldn’t bring myself to focus, because I was so distracted by how upset I was about the passing of the heartbeat bill. So, I decided to start writing some of my thoughts on the Google Doc that I had open. And I think it was in that moment that I realized that that’s what I should talk about.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA: What really struck me, and look, I grew up in Texas, this country and especially within Texas, there is so much polarization and so much around this issue is built on politics. But what you did and what you captured was the impact that it had on you, and especially your fellow female students. Not from a political perspective, but from a personal and a developmental career perspective. I actually want to play some of the sound for our viewers to listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SMITH: We have spent our entire lives working towards our future. And without our input, and without our consent, our control over that future has been stripped away from us. I 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: What was so striking about that is you representing this as a female valedictorian, and yet you’re saying this law could uproot your potential professionally. Talk about that.

SMITH: Yes, I think a lot of people have misinterpreted what I said to mean that being successful or being a mother is an either/or situation, and I don’t think that at all. I personally want to be a mother, and I cannot wait for that time. But I want it to be at a point where I am emotionally, mentally and financially capable of having a child. And when I feel like I’m ready to find that work/life balance. And I think a lot of other people feel the same way.

GOLODRYGA: Were you expecting the mic to be turned off when you started speaking —

SMITH: I was.

GOLODRYGA: — and giving a speech that that was not the one that you had, I guess, been a green light for? You were?

SMITH: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: And did you feel more comfortable and emboldened the longer you continued to speak knowing that the mic was not being turned off? Did that give you a signal?

SMITH: I didn’t — as I kept speaking, I didn’t think that the mic was not not going to get turned off. In fact, when I was about most of the way done with my speech, I turned to the side and I saw them giving the signal for the microphone to get cut off, but I kept speaking and I ended up getting to finish my speech.