'Pass the trash': How abortion is used to help conceal abuse in schools

UPDATE, 5/6/26: The Los Angeles Unified School District is now being investigated "for allegedly protecting sexual predators," according to journalist Catherine Herridge. She tweeted,

"IMPORTANT UPDATE: US Dept. Education Opens TITLE IX Investigation into LA Unified School District For Allegedly Protecting Sexual Predators. Our February investigation revealed data indicating 17% of students will encounter sexual misconduct by a teacher and/or staff in the public education system. Independent journalism leads the way!"

2/27/26: In a recent interview by investigative journalist Catherine Herridge on "Straight to the Point," attorney John Manly termed the disturbing onslaught of sexual abuse allegations occurring in schools across the U.S. an “epidemic,” with a particular concern regarding California. 

Using the phrase “pass the trash,” Manly, whose law firm has represented hundreds of alleged victims, claims that California schools and others intentionally fail to report suspicion of abuse by teachers and staff, instead opting to “pass” the accused employees to other schools.

With this as the backdrop, a Planned Parenthood-promoting teachers union is arguing for the removal of mandated reporting requirements regarding suspected abuse – which would potentially place children at even greater risk of danger from predators in schools. 

Key Takeaways:

• An attorney testified that getting rid of teachers who sexually abuse children is "next to impossible" in most states, and that the abuse is an "epidemic."

• Studies show that 17% of students report having been sexually victimized by school employees.

• It is reportedly common for schools to conduct internal investigations without adhering to mandated reporting requirements.

• Some school districts partner with Planned Parenthood to provide contraception and abortion without parental notification or consent. This can perpetuate abuse and keep parents in the dark.

• The American Federation of Teachers released a report that argues teachers should not be mandated to report child abuse or neglect to authorities, since they aren't required to report other things that might impact family/home life.

The Details:

"Passing the Trash"  

During the interview, Manly explained that districts often “pass the trash,” because firing a teacher is "next to impossible" in most states, and school districts often "pay them to go away even if they’ve sexually abused children."

Straight to the Point: Sexual Abuse Epidemic in Public Schools

He called the situation an "epidemic of sexual abuse," stating that his firm has identified 350+ perpetrators in California alone. Manly cited recent studies evaluated and reported by researcher and author Charol Shakeshaft. According to Shakeshaft, two studies she evaluated revealed an estimated 17% of students report sexual victimization at the hands of school employees.   

Shakeshaft stated in a 2024 edcast by Harvard Graduate School of Education:

We expect our schools to be places that are looking out for our kids, and the people there are kind and good. And in fact, most of them are. Most of them are people who care about kids, who care about people, who are honest, who have good ethics. That's the good part… But as in every profession, there are those who aren't. That's the sad part. 

Abortion Used to Conceal Abuse 

Live Action and Live Action News have exposed how the abortion industry is often complicit in the sexual abuse of minors, and further sexualizes those minors through its explicit “sex-ed” authored by Planned Parenthood and its affiliates. This type of curriculum grooms students for early sexual activity.

In a recently settled case, a San Jose school district agreed to pay $5.75 million to a former student who alleged that she was repeatedly raped by high school teacher Shawn Thomas. As Live Action News reported, the lawsuit asserts that the high school did “not do enough to protect the student” and that the victim was coerced to have an abortion to cover up the abuse, which only continued. Live Action News noted:

According to the lawsuit, Thomas groomed the student when she was a 15-year-old freshman before repeatedly raping her. Thomas’ wife, Sarah, allegedly walked in on the abuse once but failed to report the rape. After the victim got pregnant, she was coerced to have an abortion, but she then confided in Sarah Thomas about the abuse — only for Sarah to blame the young teen, asking how the student could “do this to her.”

No one reported the abuse to police or took any action to protect the victim from Thomas.  

• In New Jersey, a teacher was sentenced to 10 years in prison after she “groomed and raped two of her students, and had at least one abortion to cover up her crimes,” Live Action News reported. 

• In 2022, the U.S. Sun reported on a lawsuit filed by a former Paramount Unified School student alleging that a former assistant music teacher “groomed and sexually abused” the young teen. The teacher later faked his own death and allegedly coerced the student to have an abortion at five months pregnant. 

• In another case, the Kansas City Star reported on the case of former Chicago Public School high school dean Brian Crowder, who allegedly inflicted years of sexual abuse on a female student and coerced her to have two abortions. Crowder allegedly abused the student throughout her high school years and had fraudulently signed consent forms during the first coerced abortion.   

This problem has been ongoing for a very long time. 

Back in 2011, the Associated Press reported a case where a former North Carolina high school band teacher, Terry Lamar Jones, resigned after facing 64 counts of sexual activity with a student. According to reports, the charges came after the former student wrote an essay that was later published in her college newspaper. The essay detailed the allegations of abuse during high school and stated that Jones had driven the student for an abortion when she was just 16.

“The sound of the vacuum still rings in my ears almost three years later… He had taken me to Greensboro because he was scared of someone from school or anyone catching us together at the abortion clinic,” she wrote.  

Reality Check:

Failure of Mandatory Reporting and Parental Notification

While California law mandates that school personnel report suspected child abuse or neglect to law enforcement within 24 hours, Manly claimed that compliance is “almost zero.” He asserted that schools commonly conduct internal investigations rather than adhering to legal reporting requirements. 

“The problem is that when institutions or people investigate themselves, my experience is they rarely find themselves guilty,” he noted. 

Pointing to Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA), Herridge asked, “Is there a requirement for schools to notify parents of credible allegations of sexual molestation or abuse against children by teachers?” 

“No,” Manly responded, further explaining, “If a child is a 3rd grader and they go to school, and the school removes the teacher because they [the school] believes the teacher molested a little boy or a little girl, there is absolutely no legal requirement for a school to notify parents…”

Herridge asked, “How can that be?” 

Manly suggested asking the California legislature and other state lawmakers how these dangerous policies have been allowed, stating current laws are “designed to conceal the level of abuse by school personnel from parents.” 

The Los Angeles Unified School District responded to Herridge by providing a policy bulletin which stated, “When allegations of sexual misconduct by a District employee with students are made, including those involving Division employees, the Region Superintendent may choose to inform parents/guardians of the impacted school(s) in writing and/or via Blackboard Connect” (emphasis added).

Manly further claimed that the majority of teachers with allegations of abuse towards children are disproportionately sent to school districts with high minority populations. 

Many districts across California partner with Planned Parenthood, making hiding abuse potentially even easier for abusers. Live Action News has reported that some school-based health centers (SBHCs), which are prevalent across many California school districts, are often used as a “tool” for the abortion industry. These centers can offer minors access to abortion and birth control without parental consent in California.   

Opposition to Reporting

During the interview, Herridge pointed to a recent report from the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), a teachers union and Planned Parenthood ally, which is essentially a policy paper discouraging mandatory reporting requirements for teachers.

The report claims that mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect "rarely helps protect children from harm," insinuating that there are many other family issues that impact students, such as "food insecurity" or "lead exposure," yet "[w]e do not ask educators to contact departments of agriculture, housing, civil rights, environmental protection or labor for these failures." However, "all states require educators to activate child protective services agencies as mandatory reporters of child maltreatment." 

A handful of states shared responses from 50+ school personnel for the report's data; it just so happens that those states have few (if any) meaningful restrictions on abortion — like California, Maryland, New Mexico, and New York.

Herridge asked Manly if the removal of mandatory reporting for teachers would be effective in addressing growing concerns of abuse.

Manly responded by sharply criticizing AFT’s policy suggestion, stating, "No, it's designed to conceal it... that [AFT] want[s] to get rid of mandatory reporting tells me [they]'re trying to hide the truth."

Students as "Funding Devices" 

Manly believes a core reason for the failure to protect children is that "many administrators and school boards do not look at the students as human beings."

He argued that if they viewed them as "children, as God’s creation," the abuse would never be allowed. Instead, he claimed, students are seen as "funding devices," since public schools receive money per each student in attendance.  

Legal and Financial Ramifications in California

In a recent op-ed, Manly warned against school district lobbyists’ and teachers unions’ attempts to weaken California's Assembly Bill (AB) 218, a 2019 law that closed a loophole that once allowed schools to "avoid civil liability for enabling or covering up child sexual abuse."

Proponents for weakening AB 218 argue that the hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuit settlements for child abuse claims compete with funds for teachers’ salaries and school supplies for students. 

Despite claims of concern over the financial cost of lawsuits from child abuse survivors, California recently passed AB 106 and Senate Bill 106, which handed over $90 million in state taxpayer funds (in addition to the $140 million the state legislature already appropriated) to abortion centers like Planned Parenthood. 

Manly's retort to the financial concerns was simple: “If you don’t want to pay the lawsuits, stop the molesters.”