David Cox of Little Rock-based Family Council says the "Baby Olivia Act" (HB 1180) would allow public school students to see that unborn children are living human beings by showing them a recording of an ultrasound image and Live Action's educational video that demonstrates an unborn child's development from conception until birth.
The bill passed the Arkansas House of Representatives, and other states have proposed or enacted similar legislation, but it has twice failed to get through the Arkansas Senate Education Committee.
"The committee expressed some concerns and raised some questions about the bill, so the sponsors went back and amended it to try to help address some of those questions and concerns," Cox details. "Then the bill was brought back up on Wednesday, and unfortunately, it failed to pass by just one vote."
While the Arkansas Senate Education Committee is controlled by Republican, Planned Parenthood claims the proposal "pushes an ideological agenda," undermines students' access to medically accurate sex education, and "ignores Arkansas' real public health crises."
"I think there are some senators who perhaps have concerns about writing requirements like this related to human growth and development education … into the code," Cox suggests. "But Arkansas law contains many different requirements when it comes to how sex education … or human growth and development education is conducted."
There is still time to pass the bill, and the Family Council homes senators reconsider and this "good bill that's going to educate students about unborn children in Arkansas."
