When Paxton Smith, valedictorian of the Lake Highlands High School class of 2021, took the stage at her graduation on Sunday, she ditched her pre-approved commencement speech to send a powerful message instead.
"As we leave high school, we need to make our voices heard," she began, explaining that, while she was planning to talk about "TV and media and content" in her speech, "under light of recent events, it feels wrong to talk about anything, but what is currently affecting me and millions of other women in this state."
Last month, Texas governor, Greg Abbot, signed into law the "heartbeat bill," which bans abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, without exception for rape or incest.
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"Six weeks. That's all women get," Paxton said on stage at her graduation. "Most of them don't realize that they're pregnant by six weeks. So, before they have the chance to decide if they're emotionally, physically, and financially stable enough to carry out a full term pregnancy, before they have the chance to decide if they can take on the responsibility of bringing another human being into the world, that decision is made for them by a stranger. A decision that will affect the rest of their lives is made by a stranger."
Paxton, continued, "I have dreams and hopes and ambition. Every girl graduating today does. And 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." At this point, Paxton started to get some cheers from the audience. "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. 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 said.
"This is a problem," she said. "And it's a problem that cannot wait and 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. A war on the rights of your mothers, a war on the rights of your sisters, a war on the rights of your daughters. We cannot stay silent."
Later, Paxton told CBS 11 that she was nervous her microphone would be cut off when she started talking. "They are supposed to cut off your microphone if you go off script, and I went way off script," she said.
"I thought about making the speech at a different venue, like a rally where people wouldn’t be upset at what I had to say," she told Advocate Magazine. "But a large part of the reason I made the speech at graduation was that was the only place I could think of where I could reach so many people from so many different backgrounds. It did cross my mind that this is a family event where people are cheering for their kids, but this is a universal topic, and it affects everyone. I felt it needed to be said."
Afterwards, part of her speech was posted on TikTok, where it went viral. Paxton told Advocate she was "overwhelmed" by the response. "When I gave the speech, I didn’t realize people who weren’t affiliated with LHHS would see it," she said. "I’ve been getting hundreds of messages applauding what I said. It’s been shared on almost every platform I can think of."
It even reached Hillary Clinton, who tweeted about Paxton. "This took guts. Thank you for not staying silent, Paxton," she wrote.
The Richardson Independent School District, of which Lake Highlands High School is a part of, has since made a statement on Paxton's speech, saying, "The content of each student speaker’s 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."
Seventeen has reached out to Paxton for comment, but didn't hear back by the time of publication.
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Carolyn Twersky is an associate editor for Seventeen covering celebrities, entertainment, politics, trends, and health. On her off time, she's probably watching Ru Paul's Drag Race, traversing NYC for the best donuts, or, most likely, enjoying time in her favorite place in the world: her bed.
