The West Virginia Senate has voted to require eighth grade students to watch a fetal development video created by Live Action as part of their health classes.
Senate Bill 468 passed by a vote of 27 to 6, and will require that students watch the “Baby Olivia” video, which depicts life in the womb using groundbreaking animation.
“As a classroom teacher, I know that all my students learn in different ways. Some students learn from reading things. Some students learn from writing things. Some students learn from touching and doing things. And some students learn from visual representation,” said Senate Education Chairwoman Amy Nichole Grady, R-Mason, a fourth grade teacher.
“This computer-generated video and animated video puts it in terms that kids can understand and lets them see it, lets them see the growth happen. It’s really important that they do that because they’re visual learners.”
Though opponents have labeled the video as “inaccurate” and claim that life beginning at conception is nothing but “a sincerely held religious belief,” ‘Baby Olivia’ is backed up by science. Viewers watch the first moment of a person’s life at fertilization through 40 weeks, created using detailed “awarded-winning content” from the Endowment for Human Development (EHD). EHD is a self-described “nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health science education and public health” which is “committed to neutrality regarding all controversial bioethical issues.” The organization’s content is also distributed by National Geographic.
“This video is not political, and it is not religious,” said Senator Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson. “It goes through basic stages of human development in an approachable way that is easy for a child to understand and comprehend.”
The “Baby Olivia” video is medically accurate and was reviewed and endorsed by OB-GYNs and other medical professionals, 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.
The bill will now head to the House of Delegates.
