Has the Expensive Fake Abortion Scandal been Put to Rest?
- Vanessa Hall
- May 20
- 10 min read
Another Lawsuit against Public Schools Has Been Dismissed!
Last Fall, 4 Public Education shared the truth about the Centreville High School (HS) widely publicized abortion scandal manufactured by political operatives in time for the 2025 Virginia Gubernatorial race. Since then, there have been incredible updates, including a defamation lawsuit and the release of a final investigation by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). This blog will briefly cover the history, allegations, FCPS investigations, and lawsuits. Try to follow along, because this is a tangled web of allegations and unreliable narrators, which required expensive investigations to untangle the full story.
Brief History of the “Scandal”
The story began on August 5, 2025 when a so-called “whistleblower,” an English as a Second Language (ESOL) teacher, Zenaida Perez, shared complex allegations of “illegal” abortions on immigrant students that she claimed were “facilitated” by the school social worker, ignored by her principal, and paid for by FCPS.
Supposedly, these events described by Perez occurred during the 2021-22 school year, but for unknown reasons Perez didn’t declare her allegations publicly or to Child Protective Services at the time. Instead, she shared her allegations with a small group of people including a fellow teacher and friend (Julie Perry) and a Fairfax Times reporter (Asra Nomani) in late 2022, after Centreville HS administration investigated and dismissed her claims as invalid.
Three years later, in 2025, Perez shared her story with a number of conservative and partisan reporters, including Luke Rosiak of the Daily Wire, Walter Curt Jr. of WC Dispatch, and Nomani of the Fairfax Times. Interestingly, all three of these reporters had close ties to the Youngkin administration:
Rosiak’s reporting was used heavily in the Youngkin 2021 campaign, and some say his media spin on parental rights issues and horrific sexual assaults in Loudoun became the cornerstone of the Youngkin 2021 campaign.
Curt, an Ohio blogger, was the son of a Youngkin appointee and mega-donor to the Virginia GOP and Governor Youngkin.
Nomani was well-known as a self-described “Hopping Mad Mama Bear” who helped get Youngkin elected in 2021, yet whose partisan articles about FCPS have been questionable (e.g., Pride Liberation student walk-outs, FCPS Equity Offices, FCPS Merit “Scandal,” NAACP Vice President, etc.).
From August to October 2025, the Ohio blogger and Fairfax Times reporter shared lurid details including: Perez’s secretly recorded meetings with FCPS, interviews with Perez, letters supposedly written by the students involved, etc. However, their reporting on the Centreville HS "scandal" used the term “allegedly” so extensively that some Fairfax County critical thinkers had deep suspicions about the veracity of the story early on. Why? Because “allegedly” may be a term used by reporters to report on accusations; however, when it is overused, it can make stories appear untrustworthy.
Nevertheless, the Centreville HS scandal was so titillating that it inflamed anyone who read it. Soon, it was shared wide and far by Sinclair’s WJLA. Perez and Perry were interviewed by multiple news sources, including Fox 5. Oddly, Independent Women's Forum's (IWF) president, Carrie Lukas was interviewed about the story, despite having no children at the school.
At the same time, uninformed, angry people had lots to say on social media about the story, most of which centered on the opinion that FCPS was a “woke hellhole” and that people should go to jail for “this” despite not knowing what really happened. However, many Fairfax County parents and voters questioned why this old, unsubstantiated story hit right before an election and was being used by a weak candidate and her surrogates in campaign speeches across Virginia.
On August 28, 2025, the story even inspired (or was leveraged by) a rally of anti-abortion groups (e.g., the Family Foundation). Republican Lt. Governor candidate John Reid, busy trying to make a name for himself in advance of the November 2025 election, used the fake scandal in his stump speech. The Family Foundation imported most of their rallygoers from out of town, and their speeches were influenced by Curt’s and Nomani’s reporting of this four-year old unconfirmed story about the “scandal” at Centreville HS.
At the time, this pop-up political rally filled with out-of-towners competed for physical rally space and School Board speaking spots with FCPS Pride, a local group, who planned a rally in support of the Fairfax County School Board for their affirmation of transgender student protections and policies in the face of threats by the U.S. Department of Education (US ED). It was a bit messy, to say the least; however, both groups tried to coexist.
FCPS Independent But Expensive Investigations
Interestingly, the mainstream news did not touch Perez’s story until after FCPS released a preliminary investigation on October 16, 2025 after a ten-week investigation performed by King & Spaulding, a highly regarded “top-tier” law firm in Washington, DC. As 4 Public Education has previously reported, this preliminary investigation found that “based on fact-finding, it appears that the allegations are untrue.” In addition, King and Spaulding found the “shocking” allegations by Perez, Curt, and Nomani that “FCPS procured and paid for minor abortions without parent consent, are very likely untrue and lacking in factual or evidentiary support.” In summary, King and Spaulding’s report found:
“The evidence we have reviewed indicates that Mrs. Diaz and Mr. Lehman acted appropriately and consistent with FCPS policies and regulations and with applicable federal and state laws. Mrs. Perez’s allegations appear to be rooted in speculation. It also appears that in her zeal to prove her suspicions true, Mrs. Perez procured statements from students that were false.”
Immediately, Curt and Nomani harshly dismissed the findings of the independent report. Nomani referred to it as a “burn book,” and stated that “FCPS will have to delete from its website.” Curt was a bit more colorful with his response, calling FCPS a bunch of “losers,” “liars,” and “scumbags.”
Meanwhile, Perez was placed on paid administrative leave on October 20, 2025. Of course, those she had accused of malfeasance had been on administrative leave since August 2025.
On January 9, 2026, Superintendent Reid provided a further update to respond to allegations by Perez and others: “As explained in today’s submission, the available facts appear to confirm that these allegations are not only untrue but were based largely on statements that were misinterpreted, mistranslated, taken out of context, or in some cases knowingly fabricated. We have found no credible evidence of any actual wrongdoing by school staff or administrators. As important as it was to take these allegations seriously, we also believe we have a duty to be transparent about our findings and, regrettably, it appears that innocent Centreville HS personnel in this case were wrongly and publicly accused of criminal acts without any sound factual basis.”
"Regrettably, it appears that innocent Centreville HS personnel in this case were wrongly and publicly accused of criminal acts without any sound factual basis.” - Superintendent Reid
The supplemental investigation included another letter to Senator Bill Cassidy and an Appendix that responded to statements made by both Perez and her counsel, Americans United for Life (AUL), which the independent investigators found to further undermine her allegations. The Appendix further outlined major concerns, such as:
“If Mrs. Perez or others with whom she shared her private concerns between November 2022 and August 2025 had genuinely believed that young girls were at risk of what she and her lawyers have termed “abortion trafficking,” presumably steps would have been taken sooner to call public or law enforcement attention to these concerns, or at a minimum to bring such concerns to the attention of senior school division leaders, who instead learned of this issue for the first time through the story posted by Mrs. Perez’s social media collaborator, Walter Curt. “
This statement highlights a concern of this author, who has followed this case quite closely. If Perez’s claims were true, as outlined in the stories by her compatriots, then she and they ignored an even worse activity: sex trafficking. Perez’s stories involved vulnerable pregnant girls who lacked housing, power, documentation, language, family, and financial stability to insulate them from sex traffickers. One even had a much older boyfriend! These are all hallmarks of sex trafficking that should have been examined and reported. Instead, these girls were exploited for for a political story for the very same vulnerable circumstances that would expose them to sex trafficking. Seemingly, all of this was done just in time for the 2025 Gubernatorial Election.
Additionally, the investigation highlighted how Perez’s lawyer, AUL, had “gone to great lengths to promote this story for its own benefit” with Perez’s active participation in sensational dramatized accounts of Perez’s allegations in videos. Furthermore, the investigation indicated that AUL went beyond attacking FCPS to “disseminating accusations against Mrs. Diaz that the organization should know by now to be false and defamatory” particularly when Mrs. Diaz, the social worker, ”should be commended for the kindness and attention she showed to a vulnerable student facing difficult life circumstances.”
Perez’s Defamation Lawsuit Against FCPS
On October 29, 2025, with lots of fanfare, Perez filed a lawsuit in Fairfax Circuit Court against various FCPS staff and Dr. Michelle Reid, the FCPS Superintendent (CL-2025-0016376). Monique Miles and Steven Aden of AUL held a press conference in front of the Fairfax County Circuit Court with the Republican National Committeewoman for Virginia (Pattie Lyman), friend and fellow Centreville HS teacher Julie Perry, and reporters present. During this press conference, Perez admitted that the student “didn’t write” the letter, but “it was informed by the student who’d had the abortion.” This lawsuit was soon withdrawn.
On November 21, 2025, Perez filed a lawsuit in the Eastern District (E.D.) Court of Virginia, Perez v FCPS (1:25-cv-02126). In her complaint, Perez alleged that she has been subjected to a pattern of retaliation and defamation following her reports to administration of the abortion scandal, demanding $1,000,000 in damages, compensatory damages, legal fees, court costs, and interest. She sued the former principal, current principal, the assistant principal, and FCPS Superintendent. The complaint includes many unsubstantiated accusations, including some against FCPS lawyers, such as claiming that the King & Spalling preliminary report had an "unnecessarily vindictive tenor" and that it made false and fabricated claims that Perez manipulated evidence or witnesses in order to "absolve FCPS" in the "court of public opinion". (Personally, this author found the report to be professional, well-sourced, and thought-provoking!)
On December 16, 2025, FCPS responded with a request to dismiss since the claims were barred due to sovereign immunity, Anti-SLAPP immunity, and because Perez failed to demonstrate that her speech addressed matters of genuine public concern. They also asked that “Plaintiff’s immaterial and impertinent attacks on Defendants’ counsel should be stricken from Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint.” Additional documents and legal filings can be found here.
On May 8, 2026, Judge Anthony J. Trenga, appointed by President George W. Bush in 2008, ruled that Perez’s lawsuit was dismissed on all counts. Rumors are that her legal team is considering appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court; however, it is unlikely such a suit would be successful.
What’s Next in this Bizarre "Scandal"?
First, it is entirely possible that Perez’s lawsuits are not finished. AUL has already indicated that they are looking at all options, despite the weakness of their case. Additionally, the FCPS personnel who were harassed, defamed, and/or threatened in this process, particularly Ms. Garcia, have good cases against multiple parties for defamation.
It seems fairly obvious that the FCPS personnel who were publicly attacked by by Perez, AUL, and associates have the necessary components for a defamation lawsuit: 1) a false statement of fact that was 2) publicized to third parties by a defendant who 3) either knew the statement was false or acted with negligence in determining the truth. There is ample evidence on social media that the defamatory statements caused harm to the reputation of FCPS staff. Whether or not they wish to pursue such cases is another question, since lawsuits are time-consuming and expensive to pursue; however, due to the high profile nature of Perez’s case, it is possible that the affected staff may be offered some pro-bono legal services for a defamation lawsuit against the parties involved.
Second, it is almost certain that someone will lose their job. It is inconceivable that any teacher could keep their job after what was described in the initial and final independent FCPS investigations, now that the defamation litigation was dismissed. FCPS has an array of regulations and policies for staff to follow, and there are consequences for violating them.
Third, FCPS suffered economic and reputational damage due to the accusations and lawsuits that cannot be restored. The investigations cost millions of dollars, as did the lawsuit, and there is un-costed time and energy spent by FCPS staff and the Superintendent to address the issues caused by the allegations brought by Perez and her associates. This doesn’t even touch the damage caused by the unsubstantiated allegations initially published in blogs and on social media. It is unfortunate that FCPS can never recover these costs.
Fourth, taxpayers will have to foot the legal bills of the FCPS investigations, FCPS defense of Perez’s lawsuits, the police investigation initiated by former Governor Youngkin which never surfaced, and the multiple investigations conducted by the federal government. Additionally, the court time in Fairfax Circuit Court and the Eastern District Court of Virginia is also costly to local, state, and federal taxpayers.
Of course, FCPS staff and leadership, targeted by these claims, were either put on paid leave or distracted from their core duties of educating FCPS students by the false claims and the lawsuits. It is impossible to ignore the emotional and reputational impact of hundreds of social media posts threatening prison sentences (and worse!) to innocent people involved in these allegations. It’s possible that the total costs of these allegations by Perez and associates could exceed seven figures when all of the damages and expenses are valued.
Finally, all of this was a horrible distraction from our kids’ education, particularly for students and staff at Centreville HS who were under a microscope for months. Centreville HS students were subject to filming by at least one known extremist group, Tradition Family Property (TFP) Student Action, identified by the red capes they wear. TFP Student Action is the campus outreach component of “The American TFP” which has been cited by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a hate group for their “virulently anti-LGBT” views. In fact, a teacher asked that the Fairfax County School Board review their policies about filming students on school grounds due to concerns over recent filming of minors by TFP Action or their allies. She indicated that this group comes to protest at high schools around Fairfax County, which is a concern to many parents, guardians, and staff because it endangers the students and their safety.
Fairfax County schools have been the target of many disinformation campaigns by the same actors over the last six years. It is costing our families, students, staff, schools, and taxpayers too much, while the disinformation is dividing the community.
Every single time political operatives play legal football with our public schools, it is our students who pay the price.
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