Capitol Notebook: Iowa Board of Education solidifies fetal development instruction requirement

DES MOINES — Iowa schools will be required to show fetal development video to students in grades five through 12 as part of human growth and development curriculum after the Iowa State Board of Education confirmed the implementation of a law passed by state lawmakers last year.

During its monthly meeting Thursday, the board solidified a rule for a law passed in 2025 that requires schools to show students content, including a computer-generated rendering, animation or ultrasound that “depicts the humanity of the unborn child.”

Under Senate File 175, signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds last year, schools cannot use any educational materials produced or provided by entities that perform or promote abortions.

Supporters of the legislation, including anti-abortion advocacy groups, raised concerns with the board over the first draft of the rule during a public comment period Dec. 30. They questioned why wording in the draft rule at the time would require students to be shown the content in grades five or six and in grades seven or eight, asking the board to change the “or” to “and.”

On Thursday, Thomas Mayes, general counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, said the rule was amended to include “and” so students in grades five through eight will be given the instruction every year.

Mayes also added that due to current curriculum provisions only requiring students in grades 9-12 to take one health class, the law would only mandate schools to provide the fetal development instruction once for high school students.

The bill will allow schools to show a video titled “Meet Baby Olivia” produced by Live Action, which is an anti-abortion group. Critics of the law argue the video includes inaccuracies, including in time frames for detectable fetal heartbeats and fetal viability.

The rule will be implemented starting in the 2026-27 school year.

State lawmakers consider bill prohibiting colored LED lights on cars

Placing colored LED lights around or on the underside of cars would be prohibited under legislation being considered by Iowa House lawmakers.

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Iowa State Trooper and Republican state Rep. Josh Meggers, of Grundy Center, who introduced House File 2022, said limiting these types of lights will remove distractions for drivers and make it easier to recognize lights from emergency response vehicles.

“When you are approaching the vehicle, they'll have, like, a green outline, or red or blue or purple,” Meggers said. “Currently, in Iowa Code, there's nothing that we can do to enforce that. So we're just trying to keep it so that vehicles have white light to the front, which is your headlights, and your amber lights.”

The legislation was unanimously advanced out of an Iowa House Public Safety subcommittee by Meggers and Reps. Dean Fischer, R-Montour, and Timi Brown-Powers, D-Waterloo.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau