{"id":330525,"date":"2025-05-01T06:44:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T11:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=330525"},"modified":"2025-04-30T22:38:01","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T03:38:01","slug":"prenatal-development-bill-indiana-governors-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/prenatal-development-bill-indiana-governors-desk\/","title":{"rendered":"Prenatal development bill heads to Indiana governor’s desk"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A prenatal development bill has passed in Indiana and is headed to the desk of Gov. Mike Braun. It requires that students in sexual education classes view human prenatal development videos as part of their curriculum \u2014 both an actual ultrasound and an animated rendering. While Indiana is one of many states working to enact such laws, there has been pushback from abortion supporters and inaccurate reporting regarding the bill.<\/p>\n

Sex education starts in the fourth grade, typically, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle<\/a>. However, Indiana does not require<\/a> sex education classes to be taught in schools; instead, it mandates that schools teach about HIV and AIDS. Schools that choose not to teach sex education are expected to focus on abstinence.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 442<\/a> states that “if a school provides instruction on human sexuality or sexually transmitted infections, the instruction must include instruction concerning consent to sexual activity and a presentation on human growth and development during pregnancy”. The bill also states the following<\/a>:<\/p>\n

… provide an in-person presentation on human growth and development during pregnancy that is medically accurate and age appropriate and includes the following: (A) A high definition ultrasound video, at least three (3) minutes in duration<\/strong>, showing the development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development. (B) A high quality computer generated rendering or animation showing the process of fertilization and each stage of fetal development inside the uterus<\/strong>, noting significant markers in cell growth and organ development for every week of pregnancy from fertilization to birth.<\/em><\/p>\n

The discerning eye will notice that the three-minute duration requirement<\/em> is only in part A<\/em>, which pertains to the high definition ultrasound video, not<\/em> to the computer animation. And yet, Brittany Carloni of the Indianapolis Star inaccurately reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n

SB 442 specifies that human sexuality courses in Indiana must include presentations on \u201chuman growth and development during pregnancy,\u201d and states\u00a0they must be<\/a><\/strong> a minimum three-minute<\/a>, \u201chigh-definition\u201d ultrasound video of fetal development and \u201chigh quality\u201d computer renderings or animation<\/strong> of the fertilization of egg and stages of the growth of a fetus. …<\/em><\/p>\n

Again, this claim is false<\/em>\u00a0based on the actual language of the bill, which only specifies that the ultrasound video<\/em> must be at least three minutes in length. And though the law does not mention<\/em> Live Action’s “Baby Olivia” video, which is a computer animation of a developing child in the womb, Carl0ni of the IndyStar took aim at it (emphasis added):<\/p>\n

The language in SB 442 on ultrasound video and fetal development animations does not explicitly describe Live Action’s Baby Olivia video. The bill says that the materials must be \u201cmedically accurate and age appropriate.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

But Senate Democrats on April 23 questioned the reasoning behind the specificity of the language in the bill, down to the minimum three-minute timeline. The “Baby Olivia” video is just over three minutes long. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Democratic Sen. Shelli Yoder asked the author of the bill, Republican Sen. Gary Byrne, if the three-minute time frame was “based on some evidence that you have in terms of what is best practices with high-definition ultrasound videos on length of time?”<\/p>\n

A three-minute video is actually completely in line with the suggestions of the Smithsonian Science Education Center<\/a>, which claims that one of the keys<\/em> to having an effective science video is to keep the length between two and five minutes<\/em>.<\/p>\n