Anti-abortion fetus dolls handed out to Norfolk students
I went to third grade and all I got was this lousy fetus:
Plastic human fetus dolls - soft, in pink and brown, and about 4 inches long - have been handed out at Oakwood Elementary School by an employee who was put on administrative leave Thursday over the situation.
The dolls, which were distributed over weeks or months, are not authorized by the division as instructional materials, spokeswoman Elizabeth Thiel Mather said Thursday. Mather said the employee will remain on leave until school officials investigate the reports.
An Oakwood teacher told The Pilot that the “squooshy” dolls had been given to students in the third, fourth and fifth grades over several months. The teacher, who asked for anonymity to avoid retaliation from the school for speaking out, said several parents and staff were upset.
The teacher said that attached to the dolls was a card with a “pro-life” message and information on fetal growth.
Board member Kirk Houston Sr. said he examined one of the dolls. “Very life like, and it’s a pro-life tool,” he said. “To be quite honest, that is so incredible to me, that a staff member would do something so … entirely inappropriate and unacceptable.” He said board members “were all pretty dumbfounded.”
But wait, there’s more!
Last month in New Mexico, the Roswell Independent School District stopped Christian high schoolers who distributed 3,500 plastic fetus dolls on four school campuses. The dolls were confiscated by school authorities.
In 2003, an anti-abortion Virginia legislator, Del. Richard Black of Loudoun County, outraged several state senators by sending them pink plastic fetus dolls as the General Assembly was considering bills on abortion.