OPINION:
What should be a sanctuary of learning has instead become a harrowing example of institutional overreach. Recent revelations from Fairfax County — Centreville High School, to be precise — reportedly show school officials secretly and illegally arranging and funding abortions for girls without parental knowledge.
In 2021, one student, age 17, was quietly escorted to a clinic, where the procedure was handled and paid for. Another student, five months pregnant and seeking to keep her child, fled the clinic after an alleged school counselor sent her, telling her she “had no other choice.” In both cases, the school purposefully excluded parents from the conversation.
These accounts are more than shocking; they are unconscionable. Virginia law mandates parental consent for minors seeking abortions unless judicial approval is granted. The law stands as a recognition of parents’ God-given role and a bulwark of accountability in society. Yet in these alleged incidents, the school assumed the role of decision-maker, cutting out the people who love these girls most. This isn’t compassion; it’s deception.
Of note is that Fairfax County Public Schools has now come forward with its policy on these sensitive matters, and parents are learning that the policy doesn’t align with the law. The school commits “every effort shall be made to encourage and support students suspecting pregnancy to discuss their concerns with their parents or guardians.” Yet the school eliminated several opportunities to encourage these girls to discuss their pregnancies with their parents. School officials told them no decision was to be made and then chose a facility for them, transported them to said facility and paid for the procedure.
Furthermore, when confronted with these incidents, FCPS concealed them. Parents owe a debt of gratitude to whistleblower and heroic teacher Zenaida Perez for exposing this practice. How many other girls have the same story?
What makes this crisis even more urgent is the political backdrop. This year, Virginians will choose new statewide elected officials for governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general and will select a member of the House of Delegates to represent them. Unfortunately, in Abigail Spanberger, we have a gubernatorial candidate who has refused multiple opportunities to stand behind Virginia’s parental consent law. Who else on the ballot would rather have the backs of the abortion industry than parents?
Every member of the Virginia House of Delegates voted on this issue last session, when they began the process of passing a radical constitutional amendment to write parental rights out of the commonwealth’s law and shield schools from liability if they assist minors in obtaining abortions without parental consent. If enacted, this amendment will cement the very practices under investigation as lawful.
Parents will lose the right to intervene. High schools will get a legal pass to bypass parents. Girls will be shortchanged of the best love and care they can get in their unplanned pregnancies.
Thankfully, the process to change the state constitution requires a second vote of affirmation by the Virginia General Assembly. Thus, voters have a chance to fire the elected officials who believe the Fairfax situation ought to be the statewide norm before the ballot question moves any further.
We cannot stand idly by. Virginians must demand immediate accountability at the local level, and if these allegations are confirmed, officials should face the full measure of consequences under the law.
Voters must also provide a reckoning at the ballot box in November. No candidate who will not unequivocally support parental rights should be elected. If someone supports the radical Abortion Amendment, they are not supporting a “right” to abortion; they are supporting teen abortion, facilitated by outside adults without parental involvement.
We applaud the elected state officials, including Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares, who have called for an investigation into the abuse of power schools have demonstrated in Fairfax. Now, it’s up to the voters to make sure what happened in Fairfax doesn’t become the norm in Virginia.
• Victoria Cobb is president of The Family Foundation of Virginia.
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