TN House GOP passes bill to require schools show fetal development video

Melissa Brown, Nashville Tennessean
·2 min read
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Tennessee House Republicans on Monday passed legislation that will require public schools to show a three-minute ultrasound or computer animation of a developing fetus as part of a state-mandated family life curriculum.

The legislation, which is schedule for a Senate committee hearing this week, requires the video be at least a three-minute-long, "high-quality, computer generated animation" or "high-definition" ultrasound that shows fetal development of the brain, heart and other vital organs.

What exactly constitutes a "high-quality, computer generated animation" video isn't defined in the legislation, but the bill cites a video developed by a prominent anti-abortion group as an example of one that would satisfy the requirement.

If the bill is successful, the schools would be required to show the video beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

Two Democrats attempted to amend the bill on Monday night, arguing bill sponsor Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, has previously lobbied for "parental rights" in an effort to ban LGBTQ flags from display in school, which Bulso said amount to "indoctrination" of students against parent wishes.

Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, presents a bill during a House session at the State Capitol in Nashville , Tenn., Monday, March 4, 2024.
Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, presents a bill during a House session at the State Capitol in Nashville , Tenn., Monday, March 4, 2024.

House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, offered an amendment that would allow parents to opt out of viewing the fetal development video, which Republicans voted down.

Similar legislation, all specifically referencing Live Action’s "Baby Olivia" video, has passed or is being considered in Missouri, North Dakota, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Iowa.

Live Action recently decried Alabama lawmakers over their bipartisan legislative remedy to the Alabama Supreme Court's ruling on in vitro fertilization. The group said the bill, which grants civil and criminal immunity to IVF providers in Alabama, is “a license to kill,” arguing that it would “result in thousands of dead human beings.”

Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D- Nashville, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus speaks to members of the press following session at Cordell Hull State Office Building in Nashville , Tenn., Thursday, March 14, 2024.
Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D- Nashville, Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus speaks to members of the press following session at Cordell Hull State Office Building in Nashville , Tenn., Thursday, March 14, 2024.

Bulso has presented the Live Action video as "scientifically accurate" and apolitical, but physician groups across the country and Tennessee Democrats have disagreed, particularly over the timeline of developmental milestones portrayed in the Live Action video.

The video, for example, measures embryonic development in the "weeks after fertilization," which is a different timeline than that used by doctors, and it also overlays the sound of a fully-developed fetal heartbeat over its video depiction of early fetal electric impulses, which happen before fetal heart structure and a heartbeat develops.

HB 2435 passed on a 67-23 vote.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TN House GOP passes bill to require schools show fetal development video, Baby Olivia