A public school teacher in New Hampshire was fired for secretly taking a student to obtain an abortion during school hours.
Reportedly, the situation was referenced by New Hampshire Department of Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut in an op-ed in April. In the op-ed, he wrote, “How should the Department respond when… allegedly, an educator lies by calling in sick so they can take a student – without parental knowledge – to get an abortion[?] Should we turn a blind eye?”
According to the investigation by the Department, the teacher involved said that they had food poisoning and called out of work sick. That day, the teacher “escorted a current student to a medical appointment during school day hours.”
The teacher was placed on paid administrative leave, the investigative report said. When questioned, the teacher confirmed that they called in sick though they did not have food poisoning. The teacher confirmed that they drove the student to the medical appointment and that they were conversing with the student for over two weeks about the appointment.
“[The teacher] told the student to determine how far along they were (and assisted them) so the student knew what options they’d have available. [The teacher] also reported that they found the facility for the student to have the medical procedure so that they knew it was a safe facility. [The teacher] stated that the student didn’t have anyone to support thyme so they offered to go with them,” the report said.
Edelblut’s office was informed of the incident on October 18. The teacher was fired, but the date was redacted from the report, along with their name.
Republican lawmakers sounded off on the situation.
“I am horrified to hear that a teacher in our New Hampshire schools felt the right way to help a pregnant student who felt unsupported in her pregnancy was to research abortion facilities and call out sick to take a student to an abortion rather than to help her speak with her parents and find support from her family,” Republican state Rep. Erica Layon told the NH Journal.
“By taking the rightful place of that student’s parents, this teacher denied her family the opportunity to step up and support her,” Layon continued. “Undermining families should not be taken lightly, and assuming the worst of parents is a dangerous precedent.”
Republican state Sen. Tim Lang added, “Parents have the right to know everything that is happening to their child in school. Keeping secrets or going behind a parent’s back is never good public policy.”
“It’s not good for the child, either. It teaches children, by the actions of ‘trusted adults,’ it’s OK to be deceptive, which is not creating good citizens for our future,” Lang added.
“This brings up questions for a lot of parents, like who are they entrusting their children to for hours on end everyday? What kinds of interactions outside of teaching are teachers having with their students?” Melanie Israel, the Visiting Fellow in the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at The Heritage Foundation, told the outlet. “I don’t think most parents would be OK with this.”