Grade school students in several Republican-led states may soon be required to watch a fetal development video produced by a prominent anti-abortion group as part of their curricula.
Live Action uploaded the “Baby Olivia” video featuring a British narrator and “Bridgerton”-esque background music in August 2021. It has since racked up more than 9 million views.
The organization says that the clip was reviewed and accredited by a group of doctors. They are all affiliated with anti-abortion or Christian organizations: American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American College of Pediatricians, Charlotte Lozier Institute, Christian Academic Physicians and Scientists, and Christian Medical and Dental Associations.
The video has been pitched as an educational tool for children in some states that enacted abortion restrictions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade nearly three years ago. Critics say the video is misleading and contains medical inaccuracies.
“This isn’t sex education. This is a disinformation campaign designed to brainwash young children and force an out-of-touch and wildly unpopular regressive and false reproductive agenda in the public education system, using anti-abortion, anti-science propaganda about fetal development,” said Christine Soyong Harley, president and CEO of SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change, last year.
Soyong Harley’s statement was a response to Tennessee lawmakers passing the “Baby Olivia Act.” Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the legislation in April 2024. North Dakota’s version of the law took effect in 2023, but it doesn’t require schools to show the Live Action clip specifically.
Similar proposals advanced this year in Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. The Arkansas House passed a measure that would make public school students in grades 5-12 watch the fetal development video. According to Arkansas Advocate, Democratic Rep. Steve Magie, an ophthalmologist, said fifth grade is too early to watch the video and derided the clip for measuring gestation from fertilization instead of a patient’s last menstrual period — an obstetrics standard.
Republican Rep. Mary Bentley, the bill’s sponsor and a nurse, said the video is accurate and endorsed by OB-GYNs who oppose abortion, the Advocate reported. “Kids are seeing so much already on their phones, and they’re hearing stuff in the bathroom,” she said. “I want them to see some truth and know what’s happening so they can have honest discussions.”
Bentley’s bill stalled in committee after members of her party and the public raised concerns about forcing students to watch the “Baby Olivia” video, according to the Advocate.
“I may agree with it today, but I’m not going to be here in several years, and what if Live Action becomes something that I don’t agree with tomorrow,” Republican state Sen. Joshua Bryant said Monday.
GOP lawmakers in Iowa are arguing that fetal development videos should be shown to first graders. While a state Senate bill does not reference the Live Action video, it says children in first through 12th grades should watch depictions of “the unborn child by showing prenatal human development, starting at fertilization,” Iowa Capital Dispatch reported. The state House passed a similar law referencing “Baby Olivia,” Live Action and anti-abortion groups in the spring.
A Nebraska Republican filed a somewhat toned-down version in January. State Sen. Rick Holdcroft’s legislation would require education officials to adopt standards for human development curricula and show videos depicting the creation of vital organs, the Nebraska Examiner reported.
The proposal was referred to an education committee last month. “Part of the bill is that if parents think that’s too much for their child, well, then they can opt-out,” Holdcroft said.
In Oklahoma, a fetal development bill does not explicitly mention Live Action or the video, but does specify that starting Nov. 1, curricula must include “a high-definition ultrasound video, at least three minutes in duration, showing the development of the fetus in a biological woman.”
The Senate version of the bill was sent to an education committee, and its House companion was referred to a rules committee. Republican state Rep. Emily Gise amended the “Window into the Womb Act” on Feb. 7. Under the measure, public school students would have to watch a video about human development in order to graduate high school. Parents and guardians could sign a form allowing their kids to opt out.
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