A 13-year-old seventh-grader at Drake Middle School in Jefferson County Public Schools was barred from reciting her pro-life slam poetry assignment during class, according to family members.

The student selected abortion as the topic for their assignment, composing a poem that referenced biblical verses, Dr. Seuss literature, and statistics on abortions since Roe v. Wade.

School officials acknowledged that the work met all assignment requirements but prevented the student from presenting it aloud in front of peers.

The student’s poem read:

“A life is a life, no matter how small.
Seventy-three million people have been killed in one year and will be killed again this year if not more.
And they’re complete innocent humans.
They never get to see light of day before they’re cast away.
They did nothing wrong, except exist and were dismissed.
People say women in healthcare but never think how unfair.
They kill a baby for simply being there.
The Word of God says you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
How come you never listen to this and try to send them to a tomb?
I’m fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. His works are wonderful.
A person’s a person no matter how small. A life is a life no matter how small.
We often forget this important detail. This detail could save a life.
Sixty percent of babies who weren’t intended have died because of this.
Why do people kill these innocent babies with a pill?
Why do people say babies in the womb are a mistake? A thing that needs to be gotten rid of?
You ask someone is murder bad? They say, yes, of course.
But how come when you say murdering innocent babies is bad, they say women, rights and healthcare, but what about the baby’s rights. That’s unfair.
From the moment they are created, they are a human person. They are created in God’s image.
People say women’s rights and healthcare, they’re just a clump of cells, but no one dwells on the fact that a baby still has a heartbeat at six weeks.
Nothing compares to the love a mother has for her baby.
So just maybe you’ll let them have a chance to live and that love will grow.
When will people comprehend that this needs to come to an end.
A life is a life no matter how small.”