A public high school in Fairfax County, Virginia, decorated its history hallway with a polarizing alphabetic display for Women’s History Month, beginning with “A is for Abortion.”
West Springfield High School lined the hallway with a display for each letter of the alphabet, representing what school officials believe are important aspects of women’s history. The school told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that “The ABCs to ME” display “is a student-led history project that is part of an elective Women’s History class.”
The “A is for Abortion” section of the display featured an image of a coat hanger and a positive pregnancy test, as well as a description of the project, which was first reported by The Daily Signal.
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According to the project description, the display is for Women’s History Month, and the Women’s 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.”
“A” wasn’t the only letter that turned heads, with former Vice President Kamala Harris being the focal point of the “H is for Hope” display.
The ‘A is for Abortion’ portion of the ‘ABCs to ME’ display can be seen here on the right side of the display. (Photo by: Stephanie Lundquist-Arora)
For the “J is for Justice” display, students were shown an image of the Statue of Liberty holding a female sign instead of a torch, surrounded by transgender, Ukrainian and Palestinian flags.
Prominent female Democratic Party members such as Kamala Harris, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Michelle Obama were featured in the “L is for Leadership” section of the alphabetic display.
The “ABCs to ME” display also had a spot reserved for men, seemingly criticizing them with “M is for Mansplain,” a reference to the derogatory term for a man explaining something to a woman in a condescending manner.
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“N is for NOW” highlights the progressive women’s advocacy group, the National Organization for Women (NOW).
In a May 2022 blog post on its website, NOW railed against the decisions made by several states to ban biological males from competing against females in sports. The post asserted that it is “simply dehumanizing and sexist to assume that because a person is AMAB* [assigned male at birth] they must have some sort of athletic advantage over cisgender women.”
‘T is for Trans Women’ was included in the controversial display, seen here in the top right corner of the photo, featuring an image of a transgender flag inside the circle of the female symbol. (Photo by: Stephanie Lundquist-Arora)
Two letters of the alphabet were dedicated to the LGBTQ community. “Q is for Queer” and “T is for Trans Women” were shown in the display, with a transgender flag inside the circle of the female symbol being the image featured for “T.”
The mother of a male student attending West Springfield High School, Stephanie Lundquist-Arora, spoke with “The Ingraham Angle” on March 18, sharing a story of one of the students at the high school who allegedly ripped down the “A is for Abortion” display.
“I just found out, a mom called me, and she told me that her son had actually ripped down the ‘A is for Abortion’ sign. He was upset, and he was brought into the principal’s office, and they counseled him, and they said, ‘Well, you had such a visceral reaction to this,’ and I think that’s just absurd. I mean, how could you not have an emotive reaction to this, even if the adults do? So I’m proud of the students who are stepping up and saying, ‘This isn’t right. This isn’t the kind of school we want to be in. This is indoctrination, it’s not education,'” Lundquist-Arora alleged.
A concerned mother confronted the Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent via email, labeling the ‘ABCs to ME’ display as ‘obscene,’ and questioning why it’s still up. (Photo by: Stephanie Lundquist-Arora)
An email exchange between the Superintendent of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), Dr. Michelle Reid, and Lundquist-Arora, was provided to Fox News Digital by the concerned parent.
Lundquist-Arora, a chapter leader for the conservative Independent Women’s Network, asked Reid via email why the “obscene display” continued hanging in the school’s history hallway, despite the fact that it seems to violate the district’s own “controversial issues policy.” The concerned mother also highlighted President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling,” which she felt was violated by the school’s “ABCs to ME” display.
Trump’s aforementioned executive order seeks to remove federal funding for schools that teach Critical Race Theory (CRT).
When faced with these concerns, the superintendent made no concessions regarding the appropriateness of the display, and supported the school’s decision to keep the display up.
The county’s superintendent praised the display for encouraging ‘critical thinking,’ and supported the school’s decision to keep the display up despite the controversy surrounding it. (Photo by: Stephanie Lundquist-Arora)
“Often, women’s 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,” Dr. Reid asserted in her email.
The response continued, “Finally, let me be clear that our schools will remain focused on achieving a world class education for each and every student in a safe environment that values critical thinking, problem solving and creative thought provoking work. I see this student display as an example of student work that explores ideas and perspectives in a thoughtful manner and trust that this matter has been appropriately handled by school based staff – who have my full confidence.”
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When asked for comment by Fox News Digital, Lundquist-Arora responded, “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’ voices. Such viewpoint discrimination is unprofessional, immoral, and violates students’ civil rights and their parents’ rights to direct their children’s upbringing and education.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Fairfax County Public Schools for comment and was directed to a statement previously provided to Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”