Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears Seizes on Fairfax County Abortion Allegations to Amplify Parental-Rights Message

RICHMOND, Va., August 26, 2025 - Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears today intensified her campaign’s parental-rights focus by spotlighting newly revealed allegations that a school counselor at Centreville High School arranged abortions for underage students in 2021 without notifying their parents. The revelation has prompted Gov. Glenn Youngkin to open a state police investigation into possible legal and financial improprieties, and threatens to reshape the slugfest between Earle-Sears and Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger less than three months before Election Day.

Early this morning, the conservative website WC Dispatch published details of the 2021 incidents. According to the report, a Centreville High School social worker “helped one of the female students go through with an abortion” and “encouraged another female student, who was five months pregnant, to get an abortion,” though the latter fled the clinic before the procedure could occur. The district’s internal memo, shared with staff this month, confirmed an ongoing inquiry into the “concerning allegations”.

Speaking on a Richmond radio program, Earle-Sears argued that the case exemplifies a broader trend of public-school officials “ignoring parents.” She urged Virginians to demand accountability: “What is happening in our schools right now is just wrong. It is dangerous. It is insane and it has to stop. There are two sexes, boys and girls, and for generations we have understood that they deserve their own sports teams, their own locker rooms, their own bathrooms. That’s not discrimination. It’s common sense.”

Governor Youngkin followed up by directing the Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations to probe whether school officials violated state law by facilitating minors’ abortions without parental consent, or misused public funds to cover costs. In Virginia, a minor cannot legally obtain an abortion without a parent’s permission or a court order.

Spanberger, maintaining her lead in recent polls, denounced the allegations as “monstrous” if proven true: “Your underage daughter can’t get an aspirin without your permission-yet a Virginia school may have taken a young girl for an abortion, in secret, using YOUR tax dollars. If true, there will be consequences,” she posted on X. The former congresswoman has centered her campaign on affordability and criticized Earle-Sears for “cheering on White House policies that hurt Virginia families.”

Political analysts caution that the scandal could galvanize both bases: while Republicans hope it energizes their voters by casting Spanberger as aligned with entrenched bureaucrats, some question whether high-stakes cultural battles will mobilize or alienate suburban moderates essential to a November victory.

Early voting begins next month, with both campaigns now racing to frame the Centreville allegations as either a call for reform or evidence of political opportunism.