Republican-backed legislation in Ohio would mandate that teachers use anti-choice talking points in sex education classes.
Credit: Don Mason / Getty
As GOP-majority state legislatures pass laws aimed at drastically restricting access to abortion care, Republican lawmakers are seeking to control education and public messaging about abortion, pregnancy, and reproductive health.
Ohio Republicans are pushing a measure that would create a public school curriculum infusing anti-abortion language into health and science education standards and restricting students’ access to information about their options when facing an unintended pregnancy. Oklahoma lawmakers passed similar legislation in 2016, but have not yet implemented the anti-abortion curriculum due to budget constraints.
House Bill 90, pending in Ohio’s House of Representatives, would require the state’s health department to design a curriculum centered on the “humanity of the unborn child” that provides detailed information about fetuses and gestation.
“What we see with this bill is an intent to start using language that motivates emotions, and using those emotions to advance a cause,” Diego Espino, vice […]
Every day, there is another message, another story that points to Ohio falling into darkness thru legislation that is speeding up climate change, destroying the environment, laws that restrict and demean women.
A sad and appalling process for me, as Ohio is the place where some of my Quaker ancestors migrated to. Where they grew roots in the peaceful land of beautiful rolling hills and rivers.
During my last visit, I stopped to visit the remains of an ancient indigenous settlement. Following a path that circled around a small grassy mound that covered what was once a village, I came around a curve. Startled by the whir of wings, I looked up and saw a dark cloud of blackbirds. It felt as if I was watching the souls of the long-dead rising aloft. Breaking earthly ties as they soared into the freedom of the boundless blue.
Ohio… you hold a place in my meditations. A place without turmoil. A place of healing.