Pregnant teen who was banned by her school from graduation receives diploma in church

A high school senior who was banned from attending her Christian school's graduation ceremony due to her pregnancy has received her diploma at a private ceremony hosted by a local church on Saturday.

Heritage Academy, a small independent Christian school in Maryland, has prohibited Maddi Runkles from attending her graduation ceremony on Friday after the school learned that she was pregnant in January.

Over 140 friends and family members came to the Benevola United Methodist Church in Boonsboro, Maryland to support Runkles as she received her diploma in a private ceremony on Saturday, the Daily Mail reported.

Runkles' story gained media attention several weeks ago when pro-life activists criticized the school for banning the 18-year-old student from the graduation ceremony.

Students for Life of America argued that the punishment was too harsh, citing the fact that Runkles had chosen to keep her baby instead of obtaining an abortion.

However, the school's administrator, David R. Hobbs, insisted that Runkles was being disciplined "not because she's pregnant, but because she was immoral."

The student had signed a code of conduct, promising to stay away from premarital sex, drugs and other things during her time at the school.

Runkles, who had played on the school's soccer team and served as president of the student council, publicly apologized for breaking the pledge and accepted the school administrators' decision to remove her from her school leadership roles.

Students for Life argued that other students have also broken the pledge but had not been banned from the graduation ceremony. Many pro-life advocates have contended that Runkles has been treated unfairly because she is pregnant.

Runkles had declined to give a speech at her special graduation ceremony and simply moved the tassel on her white mortarboard cap from right to left after accepting her diploma.

"I (just) want to thank every single person in this room. If it wasn't for you, I don't honestly think I could have made it these last two months," she said.

Runkles had been awarded by Students for Life with a $16,000 college scholarship at a graduation party that took place after the private ceremony.

"We are so proud of Maddi for not only her courage to make a good decision in difficult circumstances, but to be an example to other students in similar situations and challenge Christian schools on their policies towards pregnant students like herself," Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said in a statement.

Days after learning about her pregnancy, the 18-year-old student was accepted to attend Bob Jones University, a Christian liberal arts school in Greenville, South Carolina.

Runkles, who is expecting a boy, said that the child's father does not go to Heritage and they are not planning to get married.