By Mary O’KEEFE

Recently Crescenta Valley High School students with the Young America’s Foundation held a discussion concerning Roe v. Wade. This followed a protest by CVHS students who were concerned about and upset over the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade. Students held a “die-in” and then walked to the Ralphs Marketplace carrying signs in favor of pro choice and upholding the 1973 Supreme Court decision. In that decision the Court found that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional.

Then, last month, a leaked draft opinion that appears to overturn Roe v. Wade was released causing voices to be raised on both sides of the issue. It is important to note that the U.S. Supreme Court has yet to officially vote on the issue of Roe v. Wade.

During the protest in favor of keeping in place Roe v. Wade, there was also a group of counter-protestors. Those CVHS students then hosted a discussion a week later in the school’s quad to share their views on the possible overturning of the ruling.

“We don’t look at it as a protest but a discussion,” said Henry Guske, a junior at the high school. “We saw how strong the opinions were on this topic and wanted to open up the discussion.”

Guske said those in his club, which is part of the Young America’s Foundation, believe that life begins at conception and that all human beings, including the fetus, have a right to live.

“We partnered with Young America’s Foundation to promote conservative values,” Guske said.

The students set up a discussion table in the quad during a lunch break.

Trevor Sandberg, a freshman and part of the club, said there was a lot of debate during that lunchtime discussion. Those countering club members’ positions brought up the concern about abortion in the case of rape.

“We wanted to counter [that],” he said. “We wanted to express where we were coming from and that even though [rape] is a traumatic experience [club members] don’t want to kill a human.”

Regarding the question of abortion in relation to the mother’s health, Guske said there should be every option used to safely remove the fetus from the womb.

Both Guske and Sandberg said although the earlier protest was more contentious, the lunchtime discussion was positive and students did not yell opinions at each other but talked.