The Oklahoma House is considering HB 2797, which would require public high schools in the state to teach that human life begins at conception.
Dubbed the Humanity of the Unborn Child Act, HB 2797 “hereby affirms that it is the public policy of the State of Oklahoma to make a value judgment favoring child birth over abortion.”
It creates a state fund for the purposes of an ongoing public education program about basic embryology, including detailed prenatal development information. It also provides for the distribution of abortion prevention information and assistance, such as pregnancy help information. Parents would be permitted to opt their children out of such instruction.
“There is only one sure prevention of pregnancy, and that’s not to cause it in the first place,” bill author Rep. Ann Coody said. “The killing of a human being is murder, plain and simple.”
HB 2797 passed the House Appropriations and Budget Subcommittee on Education last week. If signed into law, it would not take effect for the current budget year, but the next one.
Despite persistent claims to the contrary by media and political figures, science has established that the life of a new, distinct human being begins at conception.
