House passes measures requiring citizenship test, fetal development videos in Iowa schools

The Iowa House passed two measures Thursday that would set new educational requirements in Iowa’s K-12 school system — one requiring high school students pass the U.S. citizenship test to graduate and another requiring students in grades 5-12 to be shown fetal development videos and graphics.

Senate File 369, sent to Gov. Kim Reynolds, would require Iowa high schools to pass the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization civics test to graduate, beginning in the 2026-27 school year. Students need to earn at least a 60% to pass, and those who fail will be allowed to take the test as many times as necessary to earn a passing grade.

Similar graduation requirements have been implemented in other states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Reynolds has advocated for Iowa to have a USCIS civics test requirement in previous legislative sessions, but the measure had failed to make it to her desk.

Rep. Bob Henderson, R-Sioux City, floor manager for the bill, said the measure ensures that young people have a minimum standard of knowledge about the U.S. government as they become old enough to vote and participate in the country’s government system.

“Fundamental to the process of running our government is a good knowledge of the framework of our government,” Henderson said. “We require that someone who’s transferring their citizenship from another country to ours offer proof that they know a bit about that framework, after which they are given the privilege of being able to have a say in our country’s government. Why would we not have at least the same requirement of the proof of the knowledge of that framework for someone who now is poised to enter that same responsibility, simply because they have lived to a certain age?”

There were several amendments filed on the measure. Rep. Chad Ingels, R-Randalia, proposed increasing the current one-semester requirement for civics instruction to one year, in an amendment he withdrew. Rep. Elinor Levin, D-Iowa City, proposed an amendment to requiring Iowa legislators take the USCIS naturalization civics test and have results published in the daily journal, and another providing students the option to pursue a civics service project as an alternative to the test — both of which were voted down.

Levin criticized the measure for its emphasis on testing, which she said is not an effective way to make students more civically engaged. Levin, alongside other Democrats, said the bill will place both a new, unfunded mandate on schools and a new hurdle for students seeking to graduate from Iowa high schools.

“This bill is a bad idea,” Levin said. “It doesn’t meet the moment, it doesn’t engage students. Instead, it puts in front of them 100-question multiple choice test that may scare them, because it may stop them from graduating.”

Levin said at a time when Iowa has just returned to pre-pandemic graduation rates, the new requirement could be the deciding factor for whether a student graduates high school or not.

“I’m worried about the kid who’s just planning to graduate high school because their parent had told them that is the one thing they care about, or their grandparents told them that that’s the one thing they care about,” Levin said. “And now they’re going to take the test the first time — let’s say their sophomore year, right after they finished their civics class — and they don’t pass it, they get a 54%. And they say, ‘Well, I can either spend the next three years retaking this dumb thing, or next year, when I turn 17, I could drop out, and say sorry, Mom, the state made it impossible for me to graduate.'”

Henderson said the bill, passed 60-33, should “be thought of as an encouragement to knowledge, not a barrier to graduation.”

“Will the knowledge of the heritage and the history and the framework of our country alone make a good citizen?” Henderson said. “No, but a lack of that knowledge is almost certain to prevent a person from becoming a good contributing citizen. And sadly, there can be found an abundance of examples of that in our current situation.”

House approves fetal development education bill with ban on material from abortion providers

Lawmakers also passed Senate File 175 in a 60-30 vote Thursday. The legislation, passed by the Senate in a 31-13 vote in February, is this year’s version of the “Meet Baby Olivia” bill — though it does not mention the video developed by anti-abortion group Live Action by name. The bill would require students in grades 5 through 12 be shown ultrasound video and computer-generated rendering or animations depicting “the humanity of the unborn child by showing prenatal human development, starting at fertilization” in human growth and development classes. 

Rep. Helena Hayes, R-New Sharon, said the measure is not about abortion, but  “challenges us to see value, beauty and dignity in every stage of human life.”

“It’s not teaching about abortion, it brings humanity into the classroom,” Hayes said. “It allows students to witness human development through high-definition ultrasounds and authentic imagery – we have that technology. … It’s biology, it’s anatomy, it’s science.”

At subcommittee meetings on the bill, critics said it was promoting anti-abortion material in public school classrooms and could lead to the distribution of medically inaccurate information. As the bill was amended by House lawmakers to include a provision banning materials on fetal development to be shown in classrooms from an entity that performs or “promotes” abortion, or that contracts, affiliates, or makes referrals to such organizations, Democrats argued that many reputable medical organizations would be disqualified.

Hayes said this language was included to ensure information on fetal development is coming from sources in line with the requirement in the bill to depict the “humanity” of the fetus.

“Perhaps some of the entities that perform abortions, promote abortion, affiliate, refer, contract with those that do, I would propose that those are antithetical to … the humanity of the unborn child occurs in the womb,” Hayes said.

In a back and forth with Hayes, Rep. Austin Baeth, D-Des Moines, questioned what organizations would be qualify as the “leading professional organizations and agencies with relevant expertise in the field” listed in the bill, the entities identified as being able to decide if information is medically accurate and research-based — requirements for material that can be shown in classrooms.

Hayes mentioned the Mayo Clinic, a health care provider, as one of the potential organizations to be referred to as a leading professional source on this topic. Baeth said his understanding of the amendment language was that material from the Mayo Clinic could not be included in school classrooms on this subject, as the Mayo Clinic performs abortions when necessary to protect the life of the mother.

Though Hayes said the state Board of Education will adopt rules to administer and interpret the language in the bill, she agreed with Baeth that the bill’s language did not include specification on entities that perform elective versus medically necessary abortions.

Baeth said the amendment would functionally ban material from legitimate research organizations that work on issues related to human gestation.

“I find it very hard for anyone reading this amendment — if they’re going to read it by the letter of the law, should this become law, this will ban the use of information coming from our research institutions,” Baeth said. “… You’re asking for research-based information to be provided — that research is done at institutions that have some sort of association with abortions that are at least performed to protect the life of a mother.”

Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa criticizing the measure in a Thursday news release as a step to “further politicizing Iowa’s classrooms and youth.”

“Iowans do not want their children used as political pawns, but the people elected to represent them continue to steamroll them with deeply unpopular policies like this that undermine our youth and put their futures at risk,” Gabriela Fuentes, advocacy strategist manager for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa said in a statement. “More than 1,200 Iowans have already spoken out against this bill. It’s time our lawmakers listen. And, make no mistake, Iowans will hold them accountable.”

The measure returns to the Iowa Senate for consideration of the amendment before it would go to the governor’s desk.