The Trump administration’s Department of Education has opened a new investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools over allegations that a high school social worker arranged abortions for teenage students without their parents’ knowledge.
The probe, announced as an enforcement action, stems from claims dating to the 2021-22 school year at Centreville High School, where a social worker allegedly scheduled an abortion appointment for a student, paid the abortion fee and pressured a second student into the abortion, according to reports.
The district, one of the nation’s largest, faces potential loss of federal funding if it fails to respond adequately. The investigation focuses on possible violations of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, a federal law requiring schools to notify parents about certain sensitive medical services and allowing them to opt out. The department is demanding records by mid-October, including whether federal funds were used for abortions.
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“It shocks the conscience to learn that school personnel in Fairfax have allegedly exploited their positions of trust to push abortion services on students without parental knowledge or consent,” Candice Jackson, the Education Department’s acting general counsel, said in a statement.
“Children do not belong to the government — decisions touching deeply held values should be made within loving families. It is both morally unconscionable and patently illegal for school officials to keep parents in the dark about such intimate, life-altering procedures pertaining to their children.”
The allegations first surfaced publicly three years ago but drew renewed national attention last month amid broader scrutiny of the district’s policies.
In August, the administration moved to defund Fairfax and four other Northern Virginia districts — including Loudoun, Arlington, Prince William counties and Alexandria city — over separate Title IX violations related to bathroom and locker room access for transgender students. Fairfax alone stands to lose up to $160 million in federal aid.
Those defunding actions followed a July ultimatum from the department’s Office for Civil Rights, which warned the districts’ policies discriminate based on sex in violation of Title IX, a landmark law barring gender discrimination in federally funded education programs. The abortion claims added fuel to the controversy.
Officials at Centreville High School allegedly sidestepped Virginia’s parental consent law by keeping pregnancies secret, counseling students on abortions and using school funds to cover costs, according to investigators. Questions persist about whether administrators knew of and covered up the incidents.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, responded to the revelations by directing state police to launch a criminal probe.
“I am deeply concerned with the allegations that Fairfax County Public Schools officials arranged for minors to get abortions without parental consent and may have misused public funds to pay for them,” Youngkin said in a statement last month. “I am directing the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation to open a full criminal investigation into the matter immediately.”
Pro-life advocates hailed the federal scrutiny as a vital step to protect vulnerable students and restore parental rights.
