PARTNER PERSPECTIVE
Anti-Abortion Groups Are Passing State Laws to Mandate Lying to Students About Human Development
Miranda Estes
State Policy and Action Manager, SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
One of the regressive legislative trends we faced in 2024 was “Meet Baby Olivia” bills. Ten states — Iowa, Missouri, Hawaii, Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky — ran legislation attempting to mandate showing students a computer-generated, misleading, and medically inaccurate video depicting fetal development from fertilization to birth in an attempt to elicit feelings, not educate. Proponents of the legislation advocate that the roughly three-minute video be viewed during a public schools’ “human development curriculum,” with claims that it is a part of sex education. While some of these pieces of proposed legislation directly refer to the title of the video developed by an infamous anti-abortion and political extremist group, Live Action, other pieces of legislation do not specifically name “Meet Baby Olivia” but describe it in such detail that there is no mistaking the intent.
According to the National Sex Education Standards, a fetal ultrasound of any kind is not considered best practice in comprehensive sex education as it is a tool used by medical professionals and meant to be interpreted by those trained in ultrasound imagery. Not only is the use of such a video inappropriate, within the first 30 seconds of the “Meet Baby Olivia” video it asserts “gender, ethnicity, hair color, and eye color are already determined by fertilization” then continues to personify “Baby Olivia” all while using a misleading and medically inaccurate timeline of fetal developmental milestones.
Physicians call out Live Action for stating that “heartbeat can be detected 22 days after fertilization” when embryologists are clear that the heart does not form fully until nine weeks from the last menstrual period. Additionally, this video casually states that “with lots of help” a fetus can survive outside the womb at 20 weeks, yet the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and Society for Maternal–Fetal Medicine’s Obstetric Care Consensus notes that deliveries before 23 weeks have a 5-6% survival rate and that significant morbidity is universal (98-100%) among the rare survivors. These are just a few of the medical inconsistencies found in the Live Action video which are intended to confuse viewers and reinforce anti-abortion propaganda.
Live Action is a prominent anti-abortion organization in the United States closely monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its ties to hate and extremism. It is largely known for its campaigns against Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. Founded by Lila Rose, Live Action uses media and activism to promote its anti-abortion agenda, often utilizing highly doctored and made-up videos to falsely garner emotional support for restrictive abortion laws.
Those who are not familiar with the battle over sex education in the U.S. must understand that not only is Live Action spreading misinformation and trying to pass inaccurate fetal development off as fact, they are also strategically targeting young students with the indoctrination of religion-based anti-abortion messages. Additionally, Live Action is actively corrupting sex education and working to distort education that is wildly popular among Americans (84% of parents support sex education in middle school, and 96% support it in high school) when taught according to the National Sex Education Standards. They are pushing a religious ideology that impacts the sexuality and reproductive freedom of all students.
The “Baby Olivia” trend started with the 2023 passage of North Dakota’s House Bill 1265 requiring that a “high-definition ultrasound video, at least three minutes in duration be shown.” While not mentioning “Baby Olivia” by name, Live Action founder Lila Rose described that win as “just the beginning.” In 2024, two states, Tennessee and Iowa, were successful in passing this kind of legislation. Tennessee required the use of Live Action’s “Meet Baby Olivia” video, and Iowa required schools to show a computer-generated ultrasound video but dropped the reference to Live Action’s video. Given the success of the past two years, SIECUS anticipates more of these types of bills being introduced in 2025. Opponents of sex education are extremely adept at learning from mistakes and strategically updating language to create plausible deniability. As seen in 2024, SIECUS anticipates that the language used in many of these proposed pieces of legislation will transition from using the very specific “Meet Baby Olivia” to more generic and misleading bill text, so it will be important for advocates to be alert when analyzing proposed legislation around sex education.