Nathalia Comrie:

Prenatal development videos are a huge asset to the pro-life movement to help humanize the unborn to the world which is why they are being implemented into school curriculum in some U.S. states, with several using the well-known “Baby Olivia” video made by Live Action that shows major milestones in human development from fertilization to a week before birth. 

The video opens by stating that life begins at fertilization and depicts in animation sperm and egg meeting to create a new human life and then travelling from the fallopian tube into the uterus and implanting there. The video’s narrator states that “at three weeks the heartbeat is detected, at six weeks she begins to move with spontaneous and reflexive movement, brain activity can be recorded, and bone formation begins.”

Jumping ahead three weeks, the video shows that “at 9 to10 weeks, Olivia has grown from a single cell into over 9 billion cells and is called a fetus, she can suck her thumb, swallow, grasp things, and stretch.” Following, at 14 weeks the video notes that pregnant women are able to feel the baby move (quickening). By “27 weeks she is responding to light, can recognize parents’ voices along with lullabies and stories.” The video ends with showing development at 38 weeks.

In April 2024, the Tennessee senate passed a bill known as the “Baby Olivia Act” and sent it to the Governor’s office for signing. Under the new law, schools are required to incorporate the “Baby Olivia” video or an equivalent, into their family life curriculum, which must cover topics such prenatal development. The law requires schools to show “a high-quality, computer-generated animation or high-definition ultrasound of at least three minutes in duration that shows the development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development.”

Lila Rose of Live Action, said, “I applaud the Tennessee state legislature … for passing the Baby Olivia Act and Governor Bill Lee for signing it into law.” She said, “By ensuring that all students in Tennessee are provided with accurate information about human development, we are empowering future generations to understand and respect human life.”

A similar law was passed in North Dakota in 2023 where health and human sexuality courses require the inclusion of a three-minute ultrasound video and a computer-generated rendering of development in the womb; the law does not specifically mention the Baby Olivia video. The Associated Press asked 12 of the state’s largest school districts about the video and of the 10 that replied, five use the Baby Olivia resource.

Josie Luetke, director of education and advocacy at Campaign Life Coalition, told The Interim that the Baby Olivia video is a useful resource and is pleased that it is being shown in schools. “The Baby Olivia video is a good development for the pro-life movement, as it helps to humanize the pre-born child,” she said. “The level of ignorance regarding prenatal development is alarming.” Luetke referenced a 2020 DART and Maru/Blue Voice Canada poll which found that only a third of Canadians know that life begins at conception (fertilization). “We hope videos like this one will help to relieve this ignorance.”

Luetke said while there is no similar requirement to show prenatal development in schools in Canada, when pro-life groups give presentations to schools, as part of their pro-life apologetics they often include information of prenatal development.

Luetke suggested that Canadians can request that school boards implement policies on prenatal development. “Parents can delegate to their local school board meeting and request that a video like the one with Baby Olivia be shown to the students in the board.”

Abortion advocates oppose the state requirements to show prenatal development. Dr. Daniel Grossman, a pro-abortion professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco told CNN, the video spreads misinformation, arguing that “The claim that life begins at the moment of fertilization is not a medical fact.” Katie Christensen, director of North Dakota’s Planned Parenthood, said lessons about pregnancy should be “an all-encompassing and medically accurate curriculum,” implying that the Baby Olivia videos are inaccurate.

But Iowa Rep. Luana Stoltenberg, a Republican who has proposed a similar law in her state, said she was impressed by the video’s portrayal of science and “showing fetal development could help curious kids understand where they came from.” Stoltenberg added that a goal of requiring the Baby Olivia video be incorporated into school curriculum is that “Maybe a young child learns how they are developed and grow and so if they become pregnant, they decide maybe I don’t want an abortion?” asking “Is that a horrible thing?”

Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia are also considering requiring videos of fetal development be made part of their schools’ curriculum.