Twenty years ago in 2003, a teenage Lila Rose started Live Action — and just five years later in 2008, that powerful idea became incorporated as a nonprofit organization. From undercover investigations to groundbreaking videos, and from man-on-the-street interviews to breaking pro-life news, Live Action has grown over the past 15 years from a passion in a young girl’s heart into a nonprofit pro-life organization with the largest digital following of any pro-life group in the world: 7 million followers across multiple platforms.
Undercover investigations
Since 2007, Live Action’s undercover investigations have exposed the truth about abortion and the abortion industry. Live Action’s brave undercover investigators have gone into the belly of the beast to show America what really happens behind the closed doors of the abortion industry.
In addition to this, other non-in-person investigations have blown the lid off of Planned Parenthood’s lies. The Mammosham: Mammogram Falsehoods investigation featured a series of undercover phone calls exposing the fact that Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms to women despite presenting itself as a provider of this service. Thirty Planned Parenthood facilities across 27 states were called and without exception, every single facility said it did not offer mammograms. The Prenatal Care Deception investigation involved a series of phone calls to multiple Planned Parenthood locations to expose the fact that though Planned Parenthood locations advertised prenatal care, practically none provided it. After this investigation, the abortion corporation scrubbed its website of the “prenatal care” listing under its locations.
Live Action’s 2013 InHuman: Late-Term Abortion investigation revealed horrific admissions from late-term abortionists who were found to be carrying out violent procedures on viable, healthy babies while lying to women about fetal development. One abortionist even lied to the undercover investigator, telling her that at 23 weeks her baby did not yet have organs and did not “even look like a baby yet.”
Live Action’s Aiding Abusers investigation revealed a series of criminal cases, lawsuits, and news articles that exposed Planned Parenthood’s repeated pattern of failing to report cases of child sexual abuse. Live Action shared stories from former Planned Parenthood employees concerning instances of the abortion giant aiding sexual abusers. It also shared recorded cases of sexual abuse cover-ups by Planned Parenthood staff, which carried out abortions on girls as young as 12 and then returned those children to their abusers.
Last year, Live Action’s undercover footage from inside the Washington Surgi-Center, a D.C. abortion facility, revealed human rights abuses against women and children. The investigation exposed the practices of late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo (also seen in the InHuman investigation stating that he “would not help” an infant born alive during an abortion), whose nurse is caught on camera stating that the patient would not be allowed to speak with Santangelo about her abortion before she is required to take mind-altering Xanax pills — a grave violation of medical ethics and informed consent. The undercover video also shows the nurse telling the woman that she may deliver her dead child or premature living infant in her hotel room before the abortion is completed.
Later at this same facility, the bodies of over 100 babies, including five killed late in pregnancy, were recovered from a medical waste truck driver. Experts have stated the larger babies were likely old enough to have survived outside the womb and may have died by the federally banned ‘partial-birth abortion’ method (D&X).
View all of Live Action’s undercover investigations here.
Groundbreaking videos
Live Action’s videos have reached millions of viewers, educating them on abortion, fetal development, and how to best reply to pro-abortion arguments.
What is Abortion? is a series of videos in which former abortionists expose how abortions are carried out. Abortion methods are violent and include dismemberment and induced cardiac arrest. These series shared the truth with the world and helped save babies from abortion.
Baby Olivia showcases life inside the womb like no other video or app has ever done before. The animated, medically accurate video details baby Olivia’s growth from a single-celled human to a human fetus, highlighting the moments of development in the womb.
In Live Action’s Pro-Life Replies video series, pro-life activists share the best pro-life replies to debunk pro-abortion arguments. The videos include how to reply to abortion as a means of equality and how to argue against the idea that embryos don’t have equal value or that being pro-life is just being pro-birth. There are also informative videos on arguing against abortion for rape, fetal diagnosis, or to save the life of the mother.
Live Action’s man-on-the-street interviews take pro-life arguments into cities across the country. As everyday Americans see Live Action’s powerful videos, their hearts and minds are changed and their eyes are opened to the horrors of abortion.
In the past year, Live Action videos have expanded into the world of thought-provoking satire. “Pro-Choice Bosses” has been viewed 1.6 million times. Other satirical videos include “Dark Times,” “Super Awkward Walgreens Encounter,” and “Abortion Rights are Pro-Choice Men’s Rights.”
All of Live Action’s videos can be viewed here.
Innovative fetal development app
In 2023, using groundbreaking imagery, Live Action released the Window to the Womb web app, an interactive pregnancy app that gives a never-before-seen look at life inside the womb day by day from fertilization through 40 weeks of pregnancy.
Users can name their own baby and follow his or her development as their baby grows, pausing the video to learn more information about different moments of development — including the first beats of the baby’s heart and the development of taste buds.
Massive social media reach
Live Action now has the largest online presence in the pro-life movement, reaching millions of people each month with eye-opening and life-saving content. Across social media platforms including X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The Live Action, Live Action News, and Lila Rose social media accounts now reach a combined 6.95 million followers with life-related news, captivating videos, human interest stories, and more. You can follow Live Action on Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok; Lila Rose on Facebook, X, and Instagram; and Live Action News on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Mainstream media appearances
Over the last 15 years, Live Action founder and president Lila Rose has appeared on countless news networks defending the right to life. In the last year, she has expanded her major media outlet appearances to include an appearance on two episodes of Dr. Phil and multiple appearances on the popular “Whatever” video podcast.
On the “Whatever” podcast, Rose spoke with actors in the pornography industry and argued against pro-abortion talking points. She handled the tough conversations with grace and compassion.
Rose also appeared on the TimCast to discuss abortion, IVF, sexual morals, and the question of when life begins.
In making these appearances, Rose was able to reach a wider audience that included individuals who had not yet been exposed to solid pro-life arguments and the truth about life in the womb.
Life-centered news coverage
Live Action News has grown into one of the most widely read news sites focused on pro-life issues. Live Action News reports daily on stories that the mainstream media often ignores. From op-eds to breaking news and exposés of the abortion industry to human interest stories highlighting the value of every human life, Live Action News reaches hundreds of thousands of readers each month.
Over the years, Live Action News has also published a large number of informative series on topics such as abortion survivors, the rape exception to pro-life laws, the truth about pregnancy centers, how the abortion industry is selling sex in schools to even young children, how ‘father of the sexual revolution’ Alfred Kinsey conducted his so-called “research” that even today impacts what children are taught about sexuality, how the bad actors of the abortion industry are promoting the abortion pill without regard to women’s safety — and so much more.
Legislative efforts
Live Action has become a resource for pro-life legislators, hosting an annual Lawmakers Summit to encourage pro-life efforts at both the state and federal levels of government. Laws protecting life in the womb are rapidly expanding thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 — and pro-life lawmakers must be educated on how to best draft these laws to protect both women and children.
As Live Action continues to grow in this post-Roe America, it will continue to launch innovative projects and campaigns dedicated to saving the lives of the most innocent among us, our brothers and sisters in the womb.
Read more about the history of Live Action in Lila Rose’s book, “Fighting for Life,” available in the Live Action shop.
