(Washington, D.C.): Americans United for Life has been formally retained to represent Mrs. Zenaida Perez, a Fairfax County, VA public school teacher who has alleged that school personnel are facilitating student abortions without parental notice and consent. AUL’s expertise is in abortion jurisprudence and is the nation’s only single-issue pro-life law practice.
With a master’s degree in English as a Second Language, Mrs. Perez has worked to teach English to Spanish speakers in Centreville High School in Fairfax, Virginia for nearly 20 years.
In 2022, Mrs. Perez was made aware that a school social worker allegedly facilitated and financed an abortion for one of her ESOL students. Later, a second student told Mrs. Perez that she had allegedly been pressured into an abortion by the same school social worker. She resisted the coercive attempts and chose to continue the pregnancy.
Mrs. Perez brought these allegations to the attention of the Centreville High School principal who served at the time, as well as other staff, but each of Mrs. Perez’s seven attempts to bring the case to light were apparently ignored. As a result of her perseverance on behalf of these girls, Mrs. Perez faced what she described as a campaign of significant workplace retaliation and harassment. Governor Glenn Youngkin has tasked the Virginia State Police (VSP) to investigate the matter, and Mrs. Perez has provided a statement and documentation to VSP agents.
Mrs. Zenaida Perez, AUL client, stated, “As an educator serving a particularly vulnerable population of non-native English speakers, it is my duty to protect students from abuse by the school system. Parental involvement in the personal, life-altering decisions of minors is essential, and the employees of any school system should not interfere with the right of a parent or guardian to oversee the care, custody, and control of their child.
She concluded, “In the face of retaliation, I will continue to stand for these students in the hope other educators around the nation will be bold enough to stand in the way of systems that wish to place political agendas over the safety of minors and the rights of their legal guardians.”
Steven H. Aden, Chief Legal Officer & General Counsel for Americans United for Life added, “Virginia law requires that a minor child’s parent or guardian be notified of her decision to seek an abortion. The allegations made by Mrs. Perez are detailed and alarming, as they point to an apparent systematic program for enabling young girls, especially vulnerable migrants, to obtain abortions by evading their parents and guardians. Americans United for Life calls upon the Fairfax County Public School system to thoroughly investigate these allegations and ensure that all personnel know and follow Virginia law on this point.”
For more information or to arrange an interview with AUL, contact Gavin Oxley at press@aul.org or 202-987-3321.
Since 1971, Americans United for Life (AUL) has advanced the human right to life in culture, law, and policy by equipping advocates and lawmakers with the facts and strategies that change hearts and minds and protect human life. The first national pro-life organization in the country, AUL is a nonprofit, public-interest law and policy organization with a four-star rating from Charity Navigator.
