Fairfax abortion allegations fuel new political firestorm in Virginia governor’s race

Gov Glenn Youngkin has ordered state police to investigate explosive charges from a conservative blog that Fairfax County Population Schools administrators helped multiple underage girls obtain abortions in a probe whose findings may not surface before Balloting Day but could still sway voters in the court of masses opinion Virginia law requires minors to obtain either parental consent or a productive court petition to undergo the procedure Such records are also exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act The Mercury required the Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court whether any petitions were filed at all in and how a great number of have been filed in subsequent years which they did not provide Still the possibility that a populace school broke state law and bypassed parents consent rights is fast becoming a political talking point for Republican candidates this year Gift that keeps on giving Against the backdrop of an ongoing effort to enshrine reproductive rights into Virginia s constitution Republican gubernatorial nominee Winsome Earle-Sears has seized on the claims At a latest campaign event in Chesterfield County she welcomed the story s circulation in the news cycle I don t know if you also saw what s happening in Northern Virginia it s just a gift that keeps on giving Earle-Sears stated as the crowd laughed It cheered after she added Parents Still Matter Political analyst Bob Holsworth explained the dispute echoes of Youngkin s accomplished campaign when statements of a sexual assault in a Loudoun County school bathroom sparked national furor over transgender students use of restrooms Investigations and legal proceedings extended well beyond the campaign but by then Parents for Youngkin signs and parents matter chants had become staples of his rallies Youngkin went on to win the governorship and Republicans flipped the House of Delegates for a term Interestingly the target audience is not voters in Fairfax and Loudoun Holsworth declared of the Democratic strongholds but Republicans elsewhere in the commonwealth The accusations first surfaced in WC Dispatch an Ohio-based conservative blog run by independent investigative journalist Walter Curt Jr His father Walter Curt Sr is a Youngkin appointee to the Virginia State Council of Higher Mentoring and has donated thousands of dollars to both Youngkin and Earle-Sears Curt Jr narrated Virginia Scope that his familiar ties don t affect his reporting Holsworth suggested that GOP campaigns are aiming to get these issues aired on Fox News so they can deliver a message across Virginia in a way that Democrats can t That s because the claim itself whether ultimately proven or false is already enough to stoke concerns among selected voters about society schools encroaching on parental rights Defending parental oversight in K- development been a consistent Republican theme in Virginia politics If the allegation proves true Earle-Sears has vowed accountability Your underage daughter can t get an aspirin without your permission she wrote on X on Aug Yet a Virginia school may have taken a young girl for an abortion in secret using your tax dollars If true it s monstrous and there will be consequences The legal wait-and-see Pending the outcome of the state police probe any responsibility to prosecute would fall to Fairfax County Commonwealth s Attorney Steve Descano who has declined to comment Carl Tobias a law professor at the University of Richmond noted that the timeline for an analysis is uncertain While the number of people involved doesn t appear large he reported the allegation dates back four years a factor that could complicate evidence gathering and examination Tobias added that Republicans could make a lot of political hay of it heading into the elections especially since Fairfax s commonwealth s attorney has been a frequent target of Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares Miyares who is up for reelection this year has long pushed for changes in state law that would allow the state to intervene in local prosecutions and has repeatedly attacked Descano as being too lenient A foreseen prosecution arising from the Fairfax abortion allegation could even spill into the next gubernatorial term Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger is also watching closely Her campaign declared in an email to The Mercury that she will be monitoring the status of the Virginia State Police s probe and will advocacy appropriate action to uphold Virginia law The campaign also highlighted Spanberger s perspective as a mother of three young girls who attend inhabitants school adding She believes that decisions about a child s medical and safety should invariably be made between them and their parents Fairfax vs everyone else Beyond the locality s prosecutor Fairfax County General Schools has become a lightning rod for criticism from parents as well as state and federal leaders Among the the majority polarizing decisions overhauling admissions at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Innovation to promote greater diversity and resisting statewide transgender policies that would have required schools to out transgender students or restrict pronoun use The division is also arranging a shield detail for Superintendent Michelle Reid After the abortion charges surfaced Reid wrote to the school region that the conduct described would be unacceptable in the district I want to stress that at no time would the situation as described in these assertions be acceptable in Fairfax County Population Schools Reid revealed The school district has also stated that it will fully cooperate with the analysis but cannot comment further while it is ongoing Reproductive laws in campaigns Beyond Earle-Sears bid for governor and the lieutenant governor and attorney general races all House of Delegates seats are up for electoral process this year Looming over those contests is an ongoing effort to enshrine reproductive rights including abortion into the state s constitution The measure must pass the legislature again next year before appearing on a statewide ballot for voter approval or rejection While every Republican in the General Assembly voted against the proposal this year they first attempted to add language reflecting existing state law on minors access to abortion Democrats rejected that effort pointing out that a U S Supreme Court event also affirms parental consent under the th Amendment Even so the possibility that someone may have broken the law in Fairfax is alarming commented Sen Jennifer Boysko D-Fairfax who is carrying the Senate version of the reproductive rights amendment We should all be deeply concerned anytime anyone says they have been forced misled or coerced into life-changing decisions about their reproductive robustness she noted While Boysko did not specifically address the amendment in her comments she added that she is confident the study will shed light on the facts of the matter Source