GOP Wants to Mandate "Fetal Development Education." It's Anti-Abortion Nonsense. [View all]
Earlier this month, Ohio State Rep. Melanie Miller (R-Ashland) introduced legislation that would require Ohio public schools to show a video about “Baby Olivia,” inaccurately detailing fetal development, to students as young as the third grade.
Abortion rights group Reproaction notes that the “Baby Olivia” video claims that fetuses experience hiccups at seven weeks gestation, when scientists and medical professionals have repeatedly stated that fetal hiccups don’t begin until 23 weeks. That kind of deception is a key tactic of Live Action, an anti-abortion group that produced the video. Lila Rose, the president of Live Action, has inaccurately said that abortion is “never medically necessary,” and supports forcing rape and incest victims to bear their abusers’ child. David Daleiden, who infamously released doctored videos smearing Planned Parenthood and was convicted for illegally recording protected communications between patients and reproductive health care providers, is a former Live Action staffer.
The “Baby Olivia” video uses computer-generated images to depict frequently inaccurate and emotionally manipulative images of fetal development. In a statement to CNN last year, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) said, “Like much anti-abortion misinformation, the ‘Baby Olivia’ video is designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers rather than to share evidence-based, scientific information about embryonic and fetal development.”
The legislation introduced by Miller isn’t new but is the latest attempt by anti-abortion Republicans to undercut consistently high public support for legal abortion.
In 2023, North Dakota became the first state to enact legislation mandating so-called “fetal development education.” Last year, Tennessee Republicans managed to pass a bill that requires public schools to show either an ultrasound or a video of fetal development in sex education classes in the state’s schools. So far, six states have enacted this kind of legislation. Now, Ohio Republicans seek to join them.
https://truthout.org/articles/gop-wants-to-mandate-fetal-development-education-its-anti-abortion-nonsense/
lAnti-scientific nonsense!
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