KYLE, Texas – An unidentified substitute teacher at Lehman High School was fired over an abortion joke the school district called an unacceptable “lack of judgement.”

The male teacher, who has substituted in the Hays Consolidated Independent School District since November, was fired after an incident involving a female student on Friday, KXAN reports.

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The teacher was substituting the student’s seventh period science class when the student found a balloon in a cabinet, blew it up, put it under her shirt, and pretended to be pregnant.

The junior told KXAN “the substitute came after me with a large pair of scissors and was yelling at me saying, ‘time for an abortion.’

“I was shocked, I was terrified and could not say anything,” the teen said. “I felt like I couldn’t breathe for a minute.”

The girl’s mother had a similar reaction when the student contacted her to tell her what happened.

“When she called me upset, I was terrified I panicked,” the mother told the news site. “My kid goes to school, thinks it’s safe and then you get a call saying a teacher is coming after you with scissors saying it’s time for an abortion.”

“He could have stabbed her in the stomach,” the mother said.

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Hays CISD issued a statement confirming the substitute “held up a pair of scissors and said that it was time for an abortion” but intended the comments as a joke, KVUE reports.

Regardless of intent, district officials said the incident “shows a lack of judgement that is not acceptable at Hays CISD.”

The teacher “was terminated from employment with the district for inappropriate behavior,” according to the news site.

District officials discussed the incident with the Hays County Sheriff’s Office, which opened an investigation Friday that did not lead to criminal charges, KXAN reports.

“We are closing the case with no criminal charges and referring it back to the school to be addressed,” according to a sheriff’s statement.

District officials said substitute teachers must have a teaching certificate or 30 credit hours of college towards one. Subs are also provided with classroom training and an ethics and class management handbook.

The handbook clearly directs teachers to “avoid any language (verbal or nonverbal) or activity, which may be deemed inappropriate for a public school classroom,” KXAN reports.

The student involved in the abortion incident last week told the news site she believes the district should “do better research on the people they are hiring.”