Republican legislators advanced a bill on Thursday that would require schools to show students in grades 7-12 videos with details about the stages of fetal development, without any requirements that the videos be scientifically or medically accurate.
Reps. Brooke Boden (R-Indianola) and Helena Hayes (R-New Sharon) voted to advance the bill because they think it’s important to keep having the conversation about teaching this in schools.
Boden said kids need to learn how “precious” life is.
“I want our children and our families to really understand from school on up what is happening inside the womb,” she said.
Like the bill that advanced last week in a Senate subcommittee, House Study Bill 34 requires that students be shown a video of an ultrasound that shows organ development in “early fetal development.” But the House version also requires students be shown another video that shows the stages of fetal development “comparable to the ‘Meet Baby Olivia’ video developed by Live Action.”
That video argues life begins at conception and lies about actual fetal development, saying some stages happen earlier in development than they actually do.
The video also pushes the lie that the electrical pulses—that can be detected as early as six weeks—are a heartbeat, despite there not being a physical heart developed.
While they voted to advance the bill out of the education subcommittee, both Hayes and Boden said they supported removing references to “Meet Baby Olivia.”
Rep. Beth Wessel-Kroeschell (D- Ames) voted against the bill, saying, “This is an ideological agenda that does not belong in our schools.”
She pointed out that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists—the national professional organization for OB-GYNs—and the Iowa chapters of other nursing and midwife groups oppose the bill.
“We are, in Iowa, dead last in the number of OB-GYNs per capita,” she said. “And as a student just told us, she’s concerned about staying here if we continue to pass bills such as this.”
That student, Savantha Thenuwara, is a medical student at the University of Iowa, who objects to the way the videos could teach medically inaccurate information.
Supporters of the bill talked about how important it is to teach kids how fetuses develop because it might convince them not to get abortions.
“Looking back, I wish my education had included this level of detail. By the time I turned 18, I was far more informed about the concept of choice than I was about the reality of life when I chose to have an abortion at 10 weeks,” said Amber Williams, a member of Inspired Life, an organization that promotes living by Christian values. She is also a member of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing organization focused on banning books and limiting education about LGBTQ rights.
“This kind of education has the power to shape how young people understand life and the decisions they may face,” she continued.
Republicans tried and failed last year to pass the same bill.
