Members of the Tennessee House passed a bill Monday that will require public schools to show a three-minute ultrasound or computer animation of a developing fetus, such as Live Action’s “Baby Olivia,” as part of a state-mandated family life curriculum.
Sponsored by Rep. Gino Bulso, HB 2435 passed with a vote of 67-23. It does not require that schools show the “Baby Olivia” video, but rather that they show a “high-quality, computer generated animation” or “high-definition” ultrasound that shows fetal development of the heart, brain, and other vital organs. “Baby Olivia” is one such video.
During debate, Bulso countered several legislators who opposed the “Baby Olivia” video on the grounds that it contains “misinformation,” though the legislators were unable to provide specific instances of such misinformation. Many were touting previously-made claims from abortion advocates, all of which have been repeatedly debunked.
Representative Gloria Johnson maintained that the doctors who approved the bill are “sketchy folks we can’t find,” noting specifically that “they aren’t listed on the Live Action website.” However, Live Action News has repeatedly listed the medical professionals who have reviewed and endorsed “Baby Olivia,” including Dr. David Bolender, PhD, Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin; Dr. Donna Harrison of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Michelle Cretella, MD, Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians; and Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA, Senior VP Bioethics and Public Policy for the Christian Medical & Dental Associations. Some of these individuals and other medical endorsements are also noted in this Live Action press release, and the Baby Olivia site itself contains this information as well.
Both Johnson and Rep. Aftyn Behn noted that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has labeled the video as “anti-abortion information.” In response, Bulso reminded Johnson that ACOG is a pro-abortion group, noting that it says so explicitly on its website. ACOG is funded by radical abortion organizations, including Ibis Reproductive Health — which in turn has been funded by U.S. abortion pill manufacturer Danco Laboratories — and by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a Danco investor.
Are all photos and videos accurately depicting prenatal development to soon be seen as “anti-abortion misinformation” if pro-abortion groups claim it to be so?
6 weeks from fertilization (8 weeks gestation/LMP)
As Live Action noted in its press release, “ACOG is out of line with what the large majority of OBGYNs actually believe. It does not represent all OBGYNs on abortion and gestational development issues… ACOG’s abortion advocacy began shortly after its founding in 1951 by leaders involved with Planned Parenthood, the Population Council (which brought the abortion pill to the United States), and the American Eugenics Society. In 1968, ACOG’s leaders endorsed the decriminalization of abortion. ACOG is anything but impartial about abortion.”
Photo of 10-week aborted baby: Reddit user brazen 177
Finally, Johnson maintained that the video’s developmental milestones are inaccurate and that it is a “manipulative video that is not factual.” But “Baby Olivia” features the development of a new human life from fertilization to birth; it therefore sets prenatal development markers from the moment of fertilization onward, instead of from the woman’s last menstrual period (LMP), an estimated span of about two weeks before the new human being comes into existence. Opponents of the video have inaccurately claimed that using markers from fertilization makes the video ‘misleading’.
Bulso pointed out that all of the milestones and developmental facts were taken directly from the Endowment of Human Development (EHD), a self-described “nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health science education and public health” which is “committed to neutrality regarding all controversial bioethical issues.” According to its website, its “board of directors, board of advisors, staff, and volunteers includes accomplished educators, researchers, authors, programmers, and clinicians from a variety of scientific and business disciplines who share the common goal of improving lifelong health through prenatal development-based education.” National Geographic also distributes the organization’s award-winning content.
Abortion supporters are relentless in their attempts to try and stop “Baby Olivia,” because they know that it shows the reality that the preborn child is alive, growing, and fully human in the womb. Lawmakers in North Dakota, Kentucky, and Iowa have already advanced or passed similar bills; Tennessee’s bill now heads to the state Senate.
