NH Republicans introduce bill to mandate abortion video showing in health class

• New Hampshire Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday to mandate the showing of abortion videos in public school health class.
• They also introduced bills to require the showing of the “Meet Baby Olivia” video and to provide information about adoption in health class.
• Bill sponsor says bill is for education purposes; Planned Parenthood said the materials are “anti-abortion propaganda.”

New Hampshire Republicans introduced a bill Wednesday to mandate the showing of abortion videos in public school health class.

HB 662 was one of three bills some state representatives have filed in an effort they say is to educate New Hampshire public school students on abortion.

While a bill to ban abortions after 15-weeks was withdrawn Thursday, these bills are a few of the ones keeping the abortion issue alive in Concord.

What would the abortion video bill do?

HB 662 would require public high schools to show at least two of three videos developed by Live Action, an anti-abortion activist group, as part of the school’s health and wellness education. The videos are described as showing the process of chemical or surgical abortion during the first or second trimester through “high quality, computer-generated rendering or animation.”

The legislation would also prohibit schools from offering any course materials from entities that provide abortions.

Why do legislators want to mandate abortion viewing in health class?

Prime sponsor Rep. John Sellers, R-Bristol, said that the videos are “nonpolitical and non-religious” and that the goal of the legislation is purely educational.

“I believe that this information is information our kids really need to know and understand what they’re getting into and how it may affect them,” he said Wednesday. “Banning these educational videos would be no different than banning books and not allowing the children to learn.”

“Meet Baby Olivia” bill and more

In addition to HB 662, Sellers sponsored two other bills related to education on abortion in schools.

HB 667 would require the showing of another video made by the anti-abortion group Live Action called “Meet Baby Olivia” which purports to depict the process of human development. It would make the viewing of this video a graduation requirement and would also mandate the New Hampshire public universities and colleges certify that students have seen the video. 

The language of this bill is like many others introduced around the country. North Dakota and Tennessee have already enacted laws requiring schools show “Meet Baby Olivia” or something like it, and lawmakers in several other states, including Iowa, Arkansas, and West Virginia, have introduced similar bills this year.

Sellers also sponsored HB 730, which would require school districts to discuss and provide materials related to adoption for at least one hour a year during health education and anytime sexually transmitted infections or contraception are discussed.

Planned Parenthood says bills push “anti-abortion propaganda”

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and New Hampshire said that while they support a wide variety of sex education topics, these bills “seek to require anti-abortion propaganda to be shown and provided in New Hampshire public middle school, high school, and colleges.”

The organization said that the videos mentioned in the bills are biased and not based in medical practice or science. The “Baby Olivia” video, they said, has not been endorsed by “any unbiased media organization.” 

They also said that requiring the provision of adoption information “stigmatizes sexual and reproductive health care.”  

“All three of these bills seek to push an anti-abortion agenda on teenagers and young adults across the state. These bills all seek to shame teenagers,” read their testimony. “New Hampshire students deserve to have honest, medically-accurate, and complete information when it comes to making healthy lifelong decisions.”

All three bills saw hundreds more people in opposition than in support on the online testimony. They are all awaiting a recommendation from the Education Policy and Administration Committee before heading to the House floor for the first vote in the bill process.