Ohio GOP is trying to force public schools to lie to kids about health care

Republicans in Ohio are attempting to force public schools in the state to include propaganda in the curriculum used to teach children.

On Monday, HuffPost reported that Republican state Rep. Niraj Antani is pushing a bill, H.B. 90, in the Ohio House of Representatives that would put extremist anti-abortion language in school lessons.

If Republicans have their way in Ohio, children would be subjected to lessons where they would be told about the “humanity of the unborn child” and GOP societal goals like an “abortion-free society.” The bill would put this information in science and health classes.

“The bill would also ban staff from referring students to abortion services and require school boards to implement the state-designed program,” HuffPost reported.

H.B. 90 would require the state’s Health Department to create twisted public service announcements that “clearly and consistently state[s] that abortion kills a living human being.”

ACLU is blasting the attempt at propagandizing to children.

Ohio Republicans want schools to deliver a “slanted message regarding reproductive rights, regarding abortion, regarding fetal development,” ACLU of Ohio chief lobbyist Gary Daniels told the outlet.

“House Bill 90 is another destructive measure masked as an educational curriculum,” Lauren Blauvelt-Copelin of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio told HuffPost. “Our young people deserve inclusive education about their health, which includes the choice to access safe and legal abortion.”

The attempt to subject children to harmful propaganda echoes recent efforts by Republican legislators in several other states attempting to attack abortion rights.

This year, Alabama passed legislation that effectively bans abortion and criminalizes doctors caring for their patients. The law would even force victims of rape and incest to carry their pregnancies to term.

Georgia Republicans also passed an extreme anti-abortion ban, along with GOP legislators in Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi.

Meanwhile the national Republican Party, led by figures like Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have been smearing Democrats with lies about infanticide, hoping to rile up anti-choice voters.

Women’s rights are under renewed assault from Republican legislators, and in Ohio, the latest lane of attack is young children’s education.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.