With signs reading “Abortion is murder” “Fear Jesus” and “Obey his commandments,” protester Jeffrey Stocker stood in front of the high school on the corner of Edgewood and 33rd Street the morning of April 24.

According to Police Liaison Pamela Gronski, because the protester was not on school grounds, and did not disturb traffic, he is protected by the First Amendment.

“It depends on what type of protest it is, but this gentleman is completely within his rights, standing on the street corner, not obstructing traffic, not bothering anybody, so we just have to let him be and monitor it,” Gronski said. “As it goes on and if things change then we will re-evaluate and respond appropriately.”

Principal Scott Meyers said the administrative team works to ensure students stay safe if interacting with the protester.

“All we do is check with students to make sure that the students aren’t being harassed or bothered by the person that’s there,” Meyers said. “Hopefully they share their opinion, and they move along.“

Senior Jake Dempsey said he approached the protester to talk rather than change his perspective about abortion.

“I’m just taking it all in,” Dempsey said. “I’m not trying to flip this guy’s view in the five minutes I have before I have to get to class.”

According to the Stocker, he chooses to protest at high schools in order to reach an impressionable audience.

“There are kids here in their early teenage years and their brains are developing,” Stocker said. “This is where they are being indoctrinated into lies that (schools) tell them.”

Senior Jeremy Robb, who spoke to the protester, said he was motivated to speak to Stocker by his friends.

“I have a friend who was pregnant, who recently got an abortion,” Robb said. “I would assume she’s scared of it. I didn’t want that near our school, so I wanted to see if I could help stop him.”

Robb said he feels the approach of other students was overly aggressive.

“What he was preaching was bad, but two girls also approached me while I was out there, and they started swearing at him, cursing him, and I just feel both sides need to be a little nicer about things,” Robb said.

Senior Jake Henry said while he disagrees with Stocker’s view on abortion, Stoker was protected by the First Amendment.

“I disagree with him, but he has the right to say what he’s saying,” Henry said. “I just don’t think he’s going to make an impact here.”