Idaho passes law requiring public schools to teach about in utero human development

CNA Staff, Apr 3, 2025 / 11:30 am (CNA).

Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news:

Idaho governor signs in utero human development education law

Idaho Republican Gov. Brad Little recently signed a law requiring public schools to teach students about human development in the womb. 

Last week Little signed the bill, which passed in the Idaho Senate in a 27-8 vote at the end of February and in the Idaho House 63-6 in March.

The law requires schools to teach about fetal development in grades 5 through 12 beginning in the 2025-2026 school year. 

Lessons must include a high-definition ultrasound video at least three minutes long that shows the development of vital organs as well as a rendered or animated video showing the process of fertilization and the stages of human development within the uterus. 

Live Action founding president Lila Rose noted in a post on X that this would include Live Action digital resources such as the “Baby Olivia” video, which follows the growth and development of an unborn child in the womb from conception to just before birth. 

Rose called the move a “big win for truth, science, and life!” In a statement she said she hopes students in Idaho “will gain a deeper understanding of the incredible process of how human life begins.”

Other states that require education on fetal development include North Dakota and Tennessee. 

Alabama attorney general can’t prosecute out-of-state abortion funding

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Alabama can’t prosecute people for obtaining or funding an abortion in another state where it is legal. 

The decision followed a 2023 lawsuit against state Attorney General Steve Marshall, who once threatened that he would prosecute funding for abortion in other states. In 2022 Marshall said funding abortions out of state is “potentially criminally actionable for us.”

Two pro-abortion organizations that fund abortions — the Yellowhammer Fund and West Alabama Women’s Center — requested a declaratory judgment that Marshall’s comments were unconstitutional.

Judge Myron Thompson of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama said in this week’s ruling that the attorney general’s “threatened prosecutions are unlawful,” citing the right to travel as well as the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

Thompson ruled that Alabama may outlaw “what happens in its own backyard” but “it is another thing for the state to enforce its values and laws” against people who travel to another state where the conduct is legal.

Other states like Idaho and Tennessee ban “abortion trafficking,” including moving minors across state lines to obtain abortions. 

Nevada can enforce dormant parental notification abortion law, judge rules

A judge ruled Monday that Nevada can enforce a 40-year-old parental notification law for minors obtaining abortions.

U.S. District Court Judge Anne Traum in Nevada ruled that the 1985 law may take effect April 30. Traum cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson decision that repealed Roe v. Wade.

The Nevada law requires that parents or guardians are notified when minors receive abortions, but it allows an exception for minors who get a court order to authorize the abortion.

Traum left the possibility open for opponents to seek a court order to block the law while they challenge it, noting that “the injunction should be lifted unless the 1985 law should be enjoined on an alternative constitutional ground.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals initially found the law to be unconstitutional under Roe v. Wade. But after Roe was reversed, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford and others took legal steps to restore the law.

Abortion in Nevada is legal until 24 weeks with exceptions for the mother’s life or health. A possible ballot measure is in progress that, if passed, could enshrine a right to abortion in the state constitution.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/263149/idaho-passes-law-requiring-public-schools-to-teach-in-utero-human-development