Pro-life advocates castigate Christian school for banning pregnant student from graduation

Pro-life advocates have denounced a Christian school's decision to prevent an 18-year-old female student from participating in her graduation ceremony after she confessed that she was pregnant.

Maddi Runkles, a student at the Heritage Academy in Hagerstown, Maryland, has been removed from her position as the president of the Student Council after the school discovered that she was pregnant. According to Life News, the school officials also insisted that she finish the rest of her classes at home.

Kristan Hawkins, the Students for Life president, said that the young student "made the courageous decision to choose life, and she definitely should not be shamed."

"There has got to be a way to treat a young woman who becomes pregnant in a graceful and loving way," she added.

Runkles, who found out that she was pregnant in mid-January, said that her family and her church supported her, but she had a different experience when she voluntarily told the school about her situation.

"I decided I wanted to confess what I did and ask for forgiveness from my school, but the other kids who had broken other rules – even when they were caught – they still lied about what they had done," Runkles said. "It just seems unfair. I tried to make it right, but was still shot down," she continued.

Runkles said that Heritage Academy principal David Hobbs initially decided to tell the entire school that she had broken her pledge to avoid premarital sex. But she decided to publicly confess her pregnancy to the school herself.

She tearfully made the announcement to the school with her father by her side, Breitbart News reported. The student said that she was embarrassed to admit her mistake to her peers and friends, but she wanted them to hear it from her.

Runkles parents, along with other parents and about 25 of her classmates, had tried to appeal to Hobbs to let her remain in school and graduate with her classmates.

The school officials eventually allowed her to finish her classes in school, but she was still prohibited from attending the graduation with her class.

Her father, Scott, had resigned from his position as president of the school board because of how the school treated his daughter.

Runkles, who is having a boy, said she hopes that her story will encourage Christians to be more supportive of girls who are in a similar situation. She expressed her plans to attend community college in the fall and study business.

Students For Life has launched a campaign to collect money for Runkles' scholarship and baby gifts for her unborn child.