Education

Virginia School District Probes Allegations Of Staff Arranging Student Abortions Behind Parents’ Backs

(Photo via Ivan Aleksic / Unsplash)

Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has opened an investigation into allegations that school officials arranged and funded abortions for two students without informing their parents in 2021, FCPS confirmed to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The students, both minors at the time, were enrolled at Fairfax County’s Centreville High School when the incidents allegedly occurred, as first reported by W.C. Dispatch, a Substack-based outlet. The students alleged that school staff facilitated and paid for their abortions using school resources, and that then-principal Chad Lehman was aware of the situation; now, FCPS is looking into the allegations, a spokesperson for the school district told the DCNF.

One student, who was 17 at the time, says a school social worker scheduled her abortion in November 2021 and paid the clinic fees without parental consent, according to W.C. Dispatch. The student was enrolled in Centerville High School’s English for Speakers of Other Languages program.

🚨EXCLUSIVE: Covert Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Ring at Fairfax’s Centreville High—Teens Coerced, Parents Cut Out

“She was 17, five months pregnant, and ran out of the clinic after being told it was her ‘only choice.’”

Two Centreville High School students say social worker… pic.twitter.com/EjWFgX4Ihn

— Walter Curt (@WCdispatch_) August 5, 2025

The other student was five months pregnant when the social worker allegedly told her she “had no choice” but to get an abortion, W.C. Dispatch reported. The girl ultimately fled the clinic and later confided in a teacher, Zenaida Perz, who went on the record with the outlet and stated that the student’s family had been left in the dark.

“The girl never wanted that abortion, and her family was never told,” Perz told W.C. Dispatch.

A spokesperson for FCPS said the district is taking the allegations seriously and will take “appropriate action as necessary.”

“We have serious questions about these allegations that must be answered,” the FCPS spokesperson said. “At no time would the situation as described in these allegations from back in 2021 be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools. We all deserve to know exactly what happened.”

Lehman was appointed executive principal of FCPS Region 5 in the fall of 2024, according to the FCPS website. FCPS did not clarify the current employment status of Lehman or the social worker.

The Region 5 office fielded a request for comment on Lehman’s behalf but did not respond.

Virginia law requires that a parent be notified before an abortion is performed on a minor unless a judicial bypass is granted; no records of such a bypass could be found, according to W.C. Dispatch. FCPS’s policy states that “every effort shall be made to encourage and support students suspecting pregnancy to discuss their concerns with their parents or guardians,” but does not require FCPS employees to inform the parents.

Perz also alleges that school administrators tried to silence her after she learned of the incidents, according to W.C. Dispatch. Officials allegedly pressured students to “bait” Perz for minor policy infractions that could justify her termination, according to written statements from multiple students reviewed by the outlet.