SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. – Spotsylvania County school officials are reconsidering their decision to reject a proposed anti-abortion club after lawyers with the Thomas More Society – a conservative law firm – threatened litigation.

Courtland High School Principal Larry Marks initially rejected an application by senior Maddie Southerland to start a “Students for Life” club at the school to advocate against abortion. In an Oct. 6 rejection letter, Marks wrote that he turned down the club because the application did not appear to “bear a clear relationship to the regular school curriculum” or contain the proposed group’s bylaws, Fredericksburg.com reports.

Southerland resubmitted a more thorough application Oct. 24 but did not receive a response until this week.

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On Tuesday, district officials reversed course after receiving a letter from Thomas More Society attorneys threatening to take legal action if club is not approved.

“The persistent delay and continued refusal approve Ms. Southerland’s club is a violation of her rights and her fellow students’ rights under both the federal Equal Access Act … and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Thomas More attorneys Jocelyn Floyd and Daniel Carrell wrote to the district.

They cited other non-curricular groups like the lacrosse club and equestrian club to counter the assertion that student activities must bear a clear relationship to the regular school curriculum.

Regardless, district officials contend that if the club is approved, it cannot officially form until next school year because of clubs seeking initial recognition must submit a request before June 1, per district policy, according to the news site.

Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins told Fredericksburg.com that resistance from “hostile school administrators” to pro-life student clubs is nothing new, but persistent students and sympathetic attorneys are working to ensure the anti-abortion message isn’t trampled by school bureaucracy.

“Thanks to passionate pro-life students like Maddie who want to help educate their peers on the tragedy of abortion, and attorneys like those at Thomas More Society, we are able to get these needed pro-life clubs off the ground,” Hawkins said in a prepared statement.

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As a matter of law, principal Marks has “no business” denying an anti-abortion club over concerns about its connection to the curriculum while recognizing others, George Mason University law professor Joyce Malcolm told Fredericksburg.com.

“I think it’s unfortunate that our schools have become … single-minded,” Malcolm said. “Certain views are OK, and other views we don’t even want to hear.”

School officials issued a statement Tuesday announcing that Southerland’s application in now “in the review process” and “will be considered in the same manner as other applications for student organizations,” according to the news site.

In the meantime, school officials are undoubtedly a similar 2007 case that took place at neighboring Stafford County’s Colonial Forge High School – where school officials denied an anti-abortion club because it wasn’t tied to the curriculum.

In that case, “the school division decided to allow the club after the conservative Alliance Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the student,” Fredericksburg.com reports.