West Virginia senators doubled down on requiring eighth grade viewings of a specific video showing insemination and fetal development by a particular national group involved in abortion politics.
As originally introduced, a section of the bill called the “Baby Olivia Act” would require public school viewings of “Meet Baby Olivia,” by Live Action, a nonprofit organization that has been active in national anti-abortion campaigns.
A version of Senate Bill 468 had been reshaped by the Senate Rules Committee to remove the specific video and specific provider. What would have remained was a more general requirement to teach students about human development.
On Monday evening, Senate Education Chairwoman Amy Nichole Grady proposed an amendment to put the bill back the way it was, Baby Olivia and all.
Senators adopted the amendment on an 18-15 vote. Now, the bill is in line for passage in the Senate on Tuesday.
Grady, R-Mason, said specific educational materials are regularly mandated by state law, ranging from “The Diary of a Young Girl” by holocaust victim Anne Frank to training products of the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association and the National Rifle Association.
“This video is really important because it puts development into kid-friendly terms, age-appropriate, it humanizes the fetus and allows our students to see that’s a human,” said Grady, a fourth grade teacher.
She was joined in her support by Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, chairwoman of the school choice committee. Rucker, the main sponsor of the bill, also cited examples of education resources that lawmakers had mandated in the past.
“This is no different. It’s a policy decision,” Rucker said. “We make those type of decisions all of the time, and I support including the name of the video because it is exactly what we would want our kids to be exposed to — this beautiful, animated illustration of how a child develops in the womb. It’s three minutes long. It doesn’t have politics in it.”
The video begins with an image of a fetus called Olivia and then goes on to show sperm fertilizing an egg. “This is the moment that life begins.” After that, the video shows weeks of development.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Trump, R-Morgan, questioned the wisdom and constitutionality of requiring this particular video. He suggested the bill’s reference to “the moment that life begins” could be challenged under constitutional prohibitions against the government making laws regarding the establishment of religion.
Trump said his personal belief is that life does start at the moment of conception, but he noted that is not the case for all religions.
“Even though I agree with that, I think it is an imposition of what is fundamentally a religions or spiritual belief,” Trump said. “I’m all for the portion of the bill that requires the teaching of human growth and development. I think it’s important for kids to know.”
Senator Jay Taylor, R-Taylor, expressed support for requiring the video to be shown in classrooms.
“Life begins when fertilization of the egg is successful,” Taylor said, “and that is exactly what the video shows. This is the moment when life begins. So we’re doing this scientifically. There is nothing religious about this.”
Assisted Reproduction Act
Earlier in the day, senators passed another bill about human development, “the Assisted Reproduction Act.”
That bill, SB 575, sets standards for surrogacy agreements — allowing such arrangements for pregnancy occurring outside sexual intercourse and attempting to set ground rules in state code. Most of the bill addresses the agreement between parents and the surrogate. Portions of the bill describe the donation of embryos and in vitro fertilization and the transfer of embryos.
In vitro fertilization has been the subject of national discussion in recent days because of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos represent legally protected children. The ruling focused on three Alabama couples who lost frozen embryos during an accident at a storage facility.
The Alabama ruling raised questions about how state laws would treat the frozen embryos from in vitro fertilization more broadly, particularly in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Many efforts at in vitro fertilization produce embryos that are not implanted — and they may wind up being destroyed, discarded or left frozen.
West Virginia’s “Unborn Child Protection Act” includes a legislative finding that the state “has a legitimate interest in protecting unborn lives.” The law, however, specifically includes in vitro fertilization among the procedures not considered an abortion.
Senator Trump, a candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court, explained the “Assisted Reproduction Act” on Monday morning. He did not describe the current national debate about in vitro fertilization and instead focused on the complexities of contractual agreements between surrogates and the people who will raise the child.
“This is not something our predecessors in the Senate would have had to think about 50 or 60 years ago, but now for couples that have fertility issues, I think surrogacy agreements are becoming more common,” Trump said of the bill.
There was no debate on the floor, and the bill passed 28-3 with Republican senators Mike Azinger of Wood County, Robert Karnes of Randolph County and Jay Taylor of Taylor County voting against it.