{"id":26896,"date":"2025-04-02T09:21:50","date_gmt":"2025-04-02T13:21:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?p=26896"},"modified":"2025-04-02T09:21:50","modified_gmt":"2025-04-02T13:21:50","slug":"virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage","title":{"rendered":"Virginia High School\u2019s \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d Display Sparks Parental Outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Concerned parents\u00a0 are asking questions about a controversial Women’s History Month display created by students at a Virginia high school that included a section titled \u201cA is for Abortion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

West Springfield High School, located in Fairfax County, started displaying the student-led alphabetic exhibit called \u201cThe ABCs to Me\u201d in its hallway in March.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201cA for Abortion\u201d section included an image of a coat hanger and a positive pregnancy test.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A description of the project stated that \u201cthe Women\u2019s History class is celebrating and bringing awareness to what it means to be a young woman today at West Springfield High School and in the world.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the \u201cA for Abortion\u201d sections students were also presented with an image of the Statue of Liberty holding a female symbol in place of her torch, and surrounded by transgender, Ukrainian, and Palestinian flags, as part of a section titled “J is for Justice.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Conservative news outlets who picked up on the story, including<\/span> Fox News<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>The Daily Signal<\/span><\/a>, also questioned the political leanings of the display as the “L is for Leadership” section of the alphabetic display featured prominent Democratic Party women, including Kamala Harris, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), and Michelle Obama.<\/span><\/p>\n

The display also showcased two letters representing the LGBTQ community: “Q” stood for “Queer,” and “T” represented “Trans Women.” The “T” was illustrated with a transgender flag within the female symbol.<\/span><\/p>\n

West Springfield High School parent Stephanie Lundquist-Arora shared an email between herself and Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Dr. Michelle Reid with Fox News.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A chapter leader of the conservative Independent Women’s Network, Lundquist-Arora, emailed Reid to question why the “obscene display” was still hanging in the school’s history hallway. She argued that it seemed to violate the district’s “controversial issues policy.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In her email, Reid wrote: \u201cOften, women\u2019s history is excluded from traditional history texts and instruction. I respect the right of our students to respectfully share their honest, comprehensive historical perspective that is relevant to them as young adults and in keeping with the assignment guidance and expectations. This is critical thinking — an integral part of our educational experience for our soon-to-be graduating high school students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Stephanie Lundquist-Arora\u2019s statement to Fox News included: “The ABCs to Me display is what happens at the intersection of politicized teaching and biased district leadership. The teacher and administrators are using students to amplify their own divisive political messages while silencing other students\u2019 voices. Such viewpoint discrimination is unprofessional, immoral, and violates students\u2019 civil rights and their parents\u2019 rights to direct their children\u2019s upbringing and education.”<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Concerned parents\u00a0 are asking questions about a controversial Women’s History Month display created by students at a Virginia high school that included a section titled \u201cA is for Abortion.\u201d West Springfield High School, located in Fairfax County, started displaying the student-led alphabetic exhibit called \u201cThe ABCs to Me\u201d in its hallway in March.\u00a0 The \u201cA…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":26899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nVirginia High School\u2019s \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d Display Sparks Parental Outrage<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Parents are raising concerns over a VA high school\u2019s Women\u2019s History Month display featuring \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d and other charged themes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Virginia High School\u2019s \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d Display Sparks Parental Outrage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Parents are raising concerns over a VA high school\u2019s Women\u2019s History Month display featuring \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d and other charged themes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-02T13:21:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/04\/ABC-Board-in-School_credit-Stephanie-Lundquist-Arora.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Travis Henry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Virginia High School\u2019s \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d Display Sparks Parental Outrage","description":"Parents are raising concerns over a VA high school\u2019s Women\u2019s History Month display featuring \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d and other charged themes.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Virginia High School\u2019s \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d Display Sparks Parental Outrage","og_description":"Parents are raising concerns over a VA high school\u2019s Women\u2019s History Month display featuring \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d and other charged themes.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage","og_site_name":"Beliefnet News","article_published_time":"2025-04-02T13:21:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/04\/ABC-Board-in-School_credit-Stephanie-Lundquist-Arora.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Travis Henry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage","name":"Virginia High School\u2019s \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d Display Sparks Parental Outrage","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/04\/ABC-Board-in-School_credit-Stephanie-Lundquist-Arora.jpg","datePublished":"2025-04-02T13:21:50+00:00","dateModified":"2025-04-02T13:21:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d"},"description":"Parents are raising concerns over a VA high school\u2019s Women\u2019s History Month display featuring \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d and other charged themes.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/04\/ABC-Board-in-School_credit-Stephanie-Lundquist-Arora.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/140\/2025\/04\/ABC-Board-in-School_credit-Stephanie-Lundquist-Arora.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"Stephanie Lundquist-Arora"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2025\/04\/virginia-high-schools-a-is-for-abortion-display-sparks-parental-outrage#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Virginia High School\u2019s \u201cA is for Abortion\u201d Display Sparks Parental Outrage"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/","name":"Beliefnet News","description":"Top Religious News From Around the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d","name":"Brandy Grenier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","caption":"Brandy Grenier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/author\/bgrenier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26896"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26905,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26896\/revisions\/26905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}