“Meet Baby Olivia,” a three-minute video produced by the anti-abortion group Live Action, is the foundation of the latest bill that some states are considering to further dissuade people from having the procedure. The bills would have students watch the video in health class.
In Tennessee, the legislation is a Senate vote away from landing on the governor’s desk. In Missouri, the bill would require the video be shown by the time students reach third grade. It is also being considered in Iowa and Kentucky.
“Meet Baby Olivia” features an animated video of fetal development inside a uterus during pregnancy while a woman’s voice details what’s happening on screen.
Medical experts say the video’s timeline is about two weeks earlier than what doctors agree on. It’s also inaccurate in the way it depicts the range of movement for a fetus, showing Olivia moving much more than the average fetus would during the early stages of development.
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“What’s the worst that can happen?” Iowa Rep. Luana Stoltenberg told The Associated Press. “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? Is that a horrible thing?”
The worst that can happen, which Republicans don’t want to acknowledge, is that we would be giving kids inaccurate information to further limit how much control they have over their own bodies while also limiting their access to birth control information.
