The Trump administration has ordered Fairfax County Public Schools to face an investigation over allegations that staff arranged abortions for students without parental consent.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Student Privacy Policy Office announced the enforcement action on Monday under the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment. That law requires schools to notify parents about certain matters, such as physical exams and medical procedures.
Officials ordered FCPS to submit records, policies, and communications related to abortion referrals and parental notification by October 17.
The case drew national attention after Zenaida Perez, a teacher at Centreville High School, told FOX 5 DC that in 2022, a student confided that a school social worker helped her obtain an abortion without alerting her parent or guardian.
Perez said she later spoke with the girl’s guardian, who told her he only learned of the abortion after finding the student bleeding heavily.
Federal officials cited two reported instances of a Centreville High School social worker discussing abortion with students. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin earlier this month directed state police to open a criminal investigation, calling them “alleged school-funded abortions.”
FCPS said, “FCPS is fully cooperating with the Virginia State Police investigation, and it would not be appropriate to comment further on these 2021 allegations. At no time would this alleged situation, as described, be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools,” according to FOX 5 DC.
The Department of Education has required FCPS to provide documentation that includes general notices to parents, relevant policies from the 2021-22 through 2025-26 school years, and communications to staff regarding sensitive medical services. Officials also requested records tied to the alleged incidents and a statement clarifying whether federal funds supported abortion-related services.
U.S. Department of Education Acting General Counsel Candice Jackson condemned the reported incidents.
“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,” Jackson said, according to Fox News.
“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.”