BRIDGETON, N.J. (RNS) A Bridgeton High School student has filed suit against the local school board after officials did not allow her to participate in an October protest against abortion during school hours.

The student, identified only as C.H. in the suit because she is a minor, said she had planned to hand out anti-abortion pamphlets, wear an armband with “Life” written on it and remain silent throughout the day unless she was called upon in class.

Oct. 20 marked the sixth year of this protest, known as the Pro-life Day of Silent Solidarity. It is organized by Stand True, a Troy, Ohio-based ministry.

Religious groups and abortion foes encourage students to wear duct tape over their mouths or otherwise remain mostly silent that day to symbolize fetuses forever silenced by abortion.

The suit claims that school officials told C.H. “nothing religious is allowed in public schools” when she asked for permission to take part in the protest. It also says school policy banning religious expression violates the 1st and 14th Amendments of the Constitution.

“We have a very strict dress code, and we don’t allow students to pass out literature,” schools Superintendent H. Victor Gilson said on Tuesday (Nov. 17). That includes political and religious pamphlets and speech.

Religious expression is not the only type banned, he added.

“We don’t allow any insignias at all unless they (promote) Bridgeton High School or Bridgeton itself,” Gilson explained.

The student’s father, Ronald Hudak, is named as another plaintiff in the suit. He did not immediately respond to a call to his home seeking comment.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Michael W. Kiernan, hired by the Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ADF senior counsel David Cortman said his group has intervened in dozens of cases across the country over the six years the protest has been held and has filed suits in about a dozen. He said some have been successful and others are still pending.