Multiple legislatures are considering bills that would require students to watch a video of an infant’s development in the womb as part of their sex education.
Live Action, a pro-life activist organization, created a three-minute video, which shows an animated infant named Olivia go through the developmental process from conception to full term at nine months. Bills have been proposed in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia to include an animation “comparable” to the Live Action video for students from high school to as young as third grade.
The video shows a human egg being fertilized, with the narrator explaining, “This is the moment where life begins” and shows the developmental process throughout the trimesters until “Baby Olivia” is fully formed. Live Action’s website explains that the video was “reviewed by accredited OBGYNs” and “depicts the moment life begins and beyond to show the humanity of the preborn throughout each stage of human development.”
In Iowa, a video similar to Live Action’s would be shown to eighth and seventh-grade students and the legislation is currently sitting in the state’s House Education Committee. Students in the sixth grade or above would be introduced to the video in Kentucky schools if passed and West Virginia students could see the videos as soon as the third grade.
Emily Boevers, an OB-GYN and co-founder of Iowans for Health Liberty in Iowa, criticized Live Action’s claims in the video that at different stages an infant can be “playing,” “exploring,” “sighing,” and making “speaking movements,” according to ABC News. She argued that these characterizations assign “a level of intention that we just can’t say is present.”
Republican Gov. Doug Burgum signed a similar bill into law in April 2023 after the state Senate passed the legislation in a 37-9 vote, according to Live Action. The law requires schools to include a “human growth and development discussion” that utilizes an ultrasound video as well as a “computer-generated rendering or animation” that shows human development at all stages.
“Human development in the womb is obviously a part of science, something we want our children to learn and see… what I would call a divine concept,” Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal, the author of the bill, said during a debate on the Senate floor.
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