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Student-choice laws and policies give students the right to refuse to participate in classroom dissection and other animal experiments. These laws usually require parental notification about dissection activities that are part of the curriculum. They also prohibit teachers from penalizing students who choose dissection alternatives or who opt out of participating in dissection.

Keep in mind that student-choice laws and policies upholding the rights of students to refuse to dissect only cover public schools (not private schools) and only apply to K-12 classrooms. However, individual schools and school districts may have student choice policies, even if there is no state law in place. Students at the college level will need to check with their own schools to see if those institutions have a policy that permit alternatives to dissection or animal labs.

National Laws

There is currently no federal law in the U.S. regulating the use of dissection or student-choice rights. However other countries - including Argentina, Australia, Denmark, India, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland - have either banned the practice of dissection at the high school level or allow students to use alternatives.

State Laws

In the U.S., some states do have laws requiring dissection alternatives to be offered upon student request, including California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. Other states, such as Louisiana, Maine and Maryland, have state-level policies (not laws) in place that address the availability of student choice in classroom dissection. In addition, some local school districts have student-choice policies that were enacted after one or more students expressed concerns about dissection.

Current Laws Related to Dissection in Schools

For up-to-date listings of state laws, along with their legal citations, visit one of these websites:

• National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS)
• Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

What You Can Do

This website has an action kit for students and families who wish to pursue student choice policies at the local level, including a sample school policy and a sample letter to the editor:

• People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)