Dive Brief:
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Conservative lawmakers in a handful of states have proposed or passed legislation requiring school districts to include human fetal development as part of their curriculum.
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Many are inspired by or explicitly mention "Baby Olivia," an animated video of fetal development — beginning at conception and ending just prior to birth — that was created by anti-abortion advocacy organization Live Action.
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More recently, Iowa's state Senate discussed a bill Monday that would require students to view an animation "comparable to the meet baby Olivia video developed by live action" as part of the state’s 7th and 8th grade health curriculum. Other states that have introduced or passed similar measures include Missouri, West Virginia, North Dakota, Kentucky and Hawaii.
Dive Insight:
The policies and proposals come amid a rapidly shifting political landscape in both education and reproductive health.
At the federal level, U.S. Supreme Court decisions in recent years have contributed to this shift, including Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization — which overturned the right to abortion established under Roe v. Wade — and other cases that public education advocates say blurred the lines between church and state for K-12.
On the state level, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled last month that frozen embryos are children. As of March 1, at least 15 states have introduced bills that ban abortion by establishing fetal personhood, according to Guttmacher Institute, which supports sexual and reproductive health and rights through policy and research.
These trends are echoed in "Baby Olivia" curriculum measures.
Last month, the organization that inspired many of the curriculum initiatives commented in a post about its video that "there is no morally significant difference between a human embryo and a human newborn," and "they are both equally human and equally worthy of protection."
State Sen. Janne Myrdal, who drafted North Dakota's "Baby Olivia" measure, confirmed the legislation was inspired by Live Action and shows students "the divine journey" of human development. North Dakota was among the first states to pass the law in 2023.
In response to the signing of Myrdal's measure into law, Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action, said in an April 2023 statement, “When people learn the truth about the humanity of children in the womb, and the barbaric procedures abortionists use to kill them, they change. They become pro-life."
However, both Democrats and Republicans have raised concerns about permutations of "Baby Olivia" measures.
In West Virginia, where the measures passed the state senate on Feb. 27, an amendment — that was ultimately rejected — claimed that life begins at conception. The bill received pushback from state Sen. Charles Trump, a Republican, who said it could violate the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Although Trump said he believes that life begins at conception he added, “I think it is an imposition of what is fundamentally a religious or spiritual belief," according to local reports.
State Sen. Tom Takubo, another Republican and a practicing doctor, said he couldn’t support the measure because the video contained medically inaccurate information.
Liberal lawmakers have flagged concerns over the accuracy of the “Baby Olivia” video, as well.
In Iowa, Democratic state Rep. Molly Buck said, per local reports, the video "deliberately misinterprets the timeline of fertilization, the timeline of fetal heartbeat and other medical facts about fetal development."
In a 2023 annual report published by Live Action this month, the organization said more states are expected to introduce "Baby Olivia" measures in 2024.
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