Des Moines, IA — Iowa lawmakers today advanced a bill that would require Iowa students watch a medically and scientifically inaccurate video about fetal development.
A Senate subcommittee advanced HF 2617, a measure that would require students in human growth and development classes in grades 7-12 be shown a “computer-generated rendering or animation,” similar to the “Meet Baby Olivia” video by Live Action, an anti-abortion group pushing similar measures in legislatures across the country. Under the guise of depicting actual fetal development, the video presents personal beliefs and medically inaccurate information as scientific fact. The bill has already passed in the House.
“This proposed bill politicizes Iowa’s students and has no place in our classrooms,” said Mazie Stilwell, Director of Public Affairs for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa. “Not only is it political but it’s deceptive. When parents send their children to school, they aren’t sending them there to be taught blatantly false and scientifically inaccurate information. And that’s at the heart of what this bill would do. It further chips away young Iowans’ ability to make fully-informed, healthy decisions about their lives and futures. Our children deserve to receive the information and skills needed to take care of themselves and make healthy decisions for their lives now and in the future.”
The measure is part of a slew of harmful bills moving through the legislature this session that endanger Iowans’ access to essential health care.
Other bills include measures that would loosen accountability and transparency requirements for the state’s MOMS program, which funnels $2 million in taxpayer money into anti-abortion centers, and protect discriminatory actions or deny individuals rights based on their religious beliefs.
###
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa (PPAI) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a mission of fostering and preserving a social and political climate favorable to reproductive health. To meet this mission, PPAI engages in lobbying, issues education, and supporter mobilization.
Tags: