Updated 6 am 5/11/22

Students at Bristol Township’s Harry S. Truman High School walked out of classes Tuesday afternoon to protest the draft release from the United States Supreme Court which will reportedly overturn a women’s right to seek an abortions

The draft decision, penned by Justice Samuel Alito, released last week was leaked to the press and has caused controversy throughout the country about the Courts decision.

Walk Out organizer Jadalynn Tokarski, said “I hope that this will help get the word out about our voices and our thoughts on what is going on.”

“I (sic) wanna say a big thank you to everyone who came and who drove past giving their support,” she said.

Hailing from the Goldenridge section of Bristol, Tokarski said she had the help of two friends who helped organize the walk out.

Sources told the publication students who walked out are being punished for leaving class and participating in the public protest outside the school on Green Lane.

Tokarski, said fellow students, she is a sophomore, who are expected to graduate in June were told there will be consequences for taking part.

They were told, they won’t ‘walk’ or be able to attend prom, she said.  ‘

She said she’s getting detention for her role in the student walk out.

Students held signs up as motorists passed by and township police kept a watchful eye on the public display by students who disagree with the recent draft decision that strikes down a women’s right to choose.

The debate among commenters on the Lower Bucks Source Facebook page continues even to this moment.

The draft opinion is a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 Roe decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that largely maintained the right. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Alito said in the draft he penned,

We’re hoping to get our voices out there today,  said characterizing the walk out as success.

The idea of the organized protest came to  Tokarski, after reading about students at a Michigan high school walking out of school last month to protest mask mandates, it appears. 

Mary Beth Ventura who took the pictures of the students outside protesting said she was “…very proud of those kids.”

“It’s a tough situation and tough times they’re growing up in” she added.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, who is in the last months of his term, said last week, woman in Pennsylvania need not worry while he is in office.

“A decision by the Supreme Court on Roe v. Wade will not have an immediate impact on Pennsylvania or its current laws. Should this opinion become final, abortion access in Pennsylvania will remain legal and safe as long as I am governor. I will continue to veto any legislation that threatens access to abortion and women’s health care” he said.

Reporting by Action News 4 and the Associated Press on the day the draft decision was leaked said Republican candidates in the gubernatorial race all supported overturning Roe v Wade 

Current Attorney General, and leading Democratic candidate for governor Josh Shapiro said “Abortion is legal in Pennsylvania under state law. It will remain legal, no matter what SCOTUS rules. ”

National polling by Gallup says 48% of Americans say abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances, 32% say it should be legal under any circumstances.  They have been tracking polling trends since abortion became legal in 1973.

538.com has found similar results in its review of polling data. Most polls point to a “slim majority” supporting a woman’s right to choose.

“Taking away a woman’s right to choose is just going to bring back abortions that are unsafe,” Tokarski, said and that’s why she was out there demonstrating.

As a side bar to Tuesday afternoons protest, commenters undere story and directly made to this publication were angered by public protest.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” This is true for other fundamental rights, as well.

The U.S. Supreme Court recognized the free speech rights of young people at a school in the famous case of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District.

SCOTUS held The First Amendment does not protect speech that substantially disrupts a school’s learning environment, or could disrupt it in the foreseeable future.

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-1) has not commented publicly on the draft to overturn Roe v Wade.

His likely opponent Democratic candidate Ashley Ehasz released a statement last week on her social media page

In short she said “Tonight I called on Congress to codify Roe v. Wade to ensure that everyone in the country can make their own healthcare decisions. Part of that is access to safe and legal abortion. I was honored to rally with pro-choice leaders, and humbled by the young activists who came out.”

Attempts by this publication to reach school district officials for comment were unsuccessful.