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A Senate subcommittee gave initial approval Thursday to new bill that would require Iowa schools’ human growth and development and health classes include fetal development videos and graphics.
Senate Study Bill 1028 is similar to legislation discussed in the 2024 legislative session to require schools include videos and depictions of development of a fetus fertilization to birth in their curriculum for grades 7 through 12, with a specific reference to the “Meet Baby Olivia” video produced by the anti-abortion group Live Action. While the Senate bill does not include a reference to this specific video, it does require schools show ultrasound video and computer-generated rendering or animations that “depicts the humanity of the unborn child by showing prenatal human development, starting at fertilization,” to students in grades 1 through 12.
Many of the speakers at the subcommittee meeting argued the legislation was politically motivated. Jennifer Decook, a mother of two children, said the proposal would not ensure children are taught accurate information about fetal development.
“I’m the parent of two sons in West Des Moines schools,” Decook said. “I am also someone who has had multiple abortions that have saved my life and allowed me to be the loving parent that I am today. This bill is not science-based, these videos are not science-based. We have an obligation to teach our children the truth. We have an obligation to teach them science. This bill does not preserve that obligation.”
Multiple speakers pointed out discrepancies between information stated in the “Meet Baby Olivia” video and information presented by medical organizations like the College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists on subjects like when a fetal heartbeat becomes detectable or at what point a fetus can survive outside the womb.
But Amber Williams with Inspired Life and other proponents of the measure said the bill requires all information included in instruction to be medically accurate, and that the state has an obligation to “educate young people about fetal development so that they can fully understand the reality and consequences of decisions that they will make.”
“Looking back, I wish I would have been exposed to this type of curriculum when I was in high school,” Williams said. “By the time I turned 18, I knew far more about choice than I did about life. And I wish I had the knowledge that at 10 weeks gestation, the stage at which I chose to have abortion, the baby has their major organs, functioning heart and unique fingerprints, can move their arms and legs, swallow and even respond to touch. But unfortunately, this information was not a part of my human growth and development class when I was faced with that choice.”
There were other changes made from the previous year’s bill, including the removal of definitions of “research-based” to include reference to organizations like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses. The bill also strikes language specifying that information be free of racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and gender biases, instead saying that the research-based material must be “unbiased.”
Mazie Stilwell, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa, said the legislation was “an absolute stain on our state.”
“Instead of relying on time-tested subject matter experts and medical professionals, this proposal makes way for discredited and dangerous organizations to influence the trajectory of young Iowans’ lives,” Stilwell said. “It also quite literally allows for human growth and development and health class curriculum that is racist, sexist, xenophobic and homophobic. And what a shameful act for this esteemed body to even consider such a downgrade for our future generations.”
Sen. Jeff Taylor, R-Sioux Center, said the removal of certain specified biases from the bill was addressed by the addition that information provided to students must be “unbiased.”
“It actually opens it up in a wider context by just saying the information has to be unbiased,” Taylor said. “It doesn’t include certain biases that are already listed in code, but I noticed, for example, religious bias is not in code, which seems to me to be one of the one of the one of the most important biases — and unfortunate biases — that can be expressed by people. And so again, it’s not that we’re trying to open up the content to biased information.”
The bill passed 2-1, with Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-Windsor Heights, voting against the measure. The legislation is available for consideration by the Senate Education Committee.