FFRF Action Fund, the legislative arm of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, is upbraiding Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds for signing into law two troubling pieces of legislation that will deeply affect Iowa public school students.
The first law gives students in public schools the right to attend up to five hours per week of off-site religious instruction offered by private organizations, which far exceeds the time allowed by other states. This practice, known as “released time,” is a trend that is sweeping the country at the behest of an extremist Christian outfit called LifeWise Academy.
LifeWise Academy is a released-time bible study entity that, by its own description, aims to deliver “bible-based character education” to public school students during the school day. Its curriculum is structured to guide students through the entire bible over five years. The program is developed and operated by Stand for Truth Ministry, a Christian organization that openly states its sole mission is “to take the Gospel to students in America’s public schools.”
The law, which passed through the Iowa Legislature as House File 870, is not only a blatant attempt to foist Christianity on schoolkids. It also chips away at the essential time students need to spend in school. While the measure calls for any missed work to be made up, students who participate in released time programming often miss vital instruction. The legislation is cloaked in the language of parental rights and religious freedom, but in reality, these laws function as a backdoor endorsement of religion by public institutions, undermining the neutrality that is the cornerstone of a free and secular democracy.
Next, Reynolds signed Senate File 175, a deeply concerning mandate that forces Iowa students as young as fifth grade to watch anti‑choice propaganda in the classroom.
The new law will force students to watch “Baby Olivia” videos that are produced by an anti-choice group called Live Action. In these videos, students will be misled about various topics surrounding conception and abortion. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, an organization with over 60,000 members, said the videos are a ploy to manipulate students and play on their emotions.
Perhaps more harmful to students is the provision in this new law that keeps students from learning valuable reproductive health information. Resources from reputable institutions like the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins and Planned Parenthood will be banned solely because they provide abortion services. This piece of legislation replaces genuine science with emotional manipulation and scripted narratives that claim a fetus can “play” and have a beating “heartbeat” at six weeks. These are claims that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Iowa physicians call medically inaccurate.
The inaccuracies are not the result of simple ignorance; these videos are dripping with influence from the Christian right. The videos that students will be forced to watch were created in part by Dr. David Bolender, the vice-chair of the Christian Academic Physicians & Scientists at the Christian Medical & Dental Associations, a group of physicians who emphasize health care from a Christian perspective. Dr. Michelle Cretella, the executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, also contributed to the propaganda. Her organization has been labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for pushing “anti-LGBTQ junk science.”
“These two bills Gov. Reynolds signed into law will do a huge disservice to public school students in Iowa,” says FFRF Action Fund President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “From misleading students about fetal development and conception to mandating that they be allowed to skip crucial classroom instruction for religious instruction, the trend in Iowa is troubling.”
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.