A bill to require Arkansas public schools to show a controversial video detailing the development of a human embryo advanced through its first legislative hurdle Tuesday.
After nearly an hour of debate, members of the House Education Committee ultimately passed House Bill 1180 by Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville, on a voice vote. Bentley described the video, titled “Meet Baby Olivia,” as a “medically-accurate glimpse of human life from the moment of fertilization.”
“I have always been in awe of the human body. It just fascinates me, all that God did in our human bodies, and even how our eyeball works, it just fascinated me to study about the eyeball,” Bentley said. “We should bring some more awe and wonder into our classrooms, I think students should be in amazement and awe of the human body.”
Several members of the public spoke against the bill, citing the video’s scientific inaccuracy and that it was created by Live Action, an anti-abortion special interest group. Rep. Denise Garner, D-Fayetteville, cited criticism of the video from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).
“It’s frustrating to me that the folks that absolutely are in charge of evidence-based peer review have said this film is medically inaccurate, and we have folks that disagree with that,” Garner said. “The folks that set the standards for medical care for women’s health have said this bill is medically inaccurate.”
Bentley, a former nurse, discounted the group’s criticisms of the video. She also emphasized that, like other material shown in school, parents could still choose for their children not to view the video.
“I don’t agree with a lot of what ACOG says,” she said. “Embryonic experts and fetal experts say… every word is accurate, so I’ve not reached out to ACOG, don’t see any reason to reach out to ACOG… it’s been through lawsuits in other states, so it’s already been through the wringer.”
The bill would require the video, as well as a video of a fetal ultrasound, to be shown in public schools beginning in the fifth grade as part of instruction on sexual abstinence and a “human growth and development discussion.”
A previous version of the bill would have also allowed the attorney general to file civil litigation against schools and teachers which choose not to show the video. Lawmakers in several other states, including Tennessee, Missouri and Kentucky, are considering similar bills.
Debbie Goolsby was one of several members of the public who spoke against the bill, saying the video is designed to influence students’ views against abortion.
“It is beautiful, you can get teary-eyed watching it. But it’s meant to be emotional, and if the film had been produced by Planned Parenthood, there may have been a different take in here. It comes from a politically biased organization,” she said.
Committee members passed an amended version of the bill on a voice vote Tuesday. It now heads to the full House for consideration.
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