A bill requiring students to watch a brief video on fetal development in the womb is on life support in the Republican-controlled Iowa Senate.
House File 2617, which was formerly known as the Baby Olivia Bill before Senate Republicans amended the bill to remove the Baby Olivia video reference, has yet to pass the Senate.
The bill requires the fetal development video be included in for grades 7-12. The video must be at least three minutes in length.
Some of the organizations opposed to the bill include:
*Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa
*Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers
*ACLU
*Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund
*Family Planning Council of Iowa
The Iowa Association of School Boards and Iowa State Education Association (teachers’ union) are also opposed to the bill.
Mazie Stilwell, the lobbyist for Planned Parenthood, said she appreciated efforts to make the bill more age-appropriate, but the changes don’t go far enough.
Stilwell said the prescriptive nature of the bill leaves students subject to “the anti-abortion propaganda.”
“Students deserve better than what school districts would be allowed to put forth,” she said. “Really you don’t have to look any farther than proponents of this bill to see that it is the propaganda that we’ve been saying from the beginning.”
Stilwell said Planned Parenthood is “concerned” about the impact the bill would have on students.
This is why “conservatives” lose. I don’t care about getting out to vote for people who can’t even pass a bill showing teens why abortions are bad. If all we are is a few years behind the democrat agenda, what is the difference? Can we not take a stand and stick to it? So disappointing.