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House committee backs bill to make short fetal‑development video available in Utah schools after heated debate
Summary
The House Education Standing Committee voted 6–5 to recommend HB315, which would require local education agencies to provide a three‑minute fetal‑development video as an instructional resource in certain health and biology classes. Supporters called it age‑appropriate and informative; opponents and USBE warned it prescribes materials and raised accuracy concerns.
The House Education Standing Committee voted 6–5 on Feb. 26 to recommend favorably House Bill 315, a measure that would require local education agencies to provide a short, high‑definition fetal‑development video as an available instructional resource in specified classes, including fifth‑ and sixth‑grade maturation, health, child‑development and biology courses.
Representative Jill Peck, the bill sponsor, said the measure fills what she described as a gap in students’ education about how babies develop. “It’s a part of human education that we should know,” she told the committee, noting the video would be donated with a perpetual, unbranded license and would not require renewal.
The bill drew sharply divided testimony during a one‑hour committee hearing. Noah Brandt, vice president of…
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