Virginia Latest to Let Students Opt Out of Dissections

Make a horizontal incision through the skin between the frog's front legs. Perform the same task between the muscles of the back legs. Then pull back the muscle flaps and hold them with forceps. And finally, use the scalpel to separate the muscles from the nearby tissues.

This might sound like the guidance of a high school teacher leading a class through one of the biology lab's most familiar lessons. In fact, it's part of an interactive program offered online as a resource by the department of education in Virginia, which has joined a growing number of states in requiring schools to give students alternatives to performing dissections of animals in class.

Nine other states have passed laws or resolutions stating that students who object to dissections be given another option, according to an animal-rights organization that has been tracking the issue. Virginia's measure pass ed the legislature this year and took effect this fall. Earlier this month, Massachusetts lawmakers approved a similar measure, though that...