Fact-Checking the "Baby Olivia" and "Baby Oliver" Videos
Tucked within Senator Erin Grall and Representative Dana Trabulsy's lengthy education bill is a requirement for students to view a video on fetal development. Based on the requirements presented, the video is likely to end up being the "Baby Olivia" or “Baby Oliver” video. These videos were created by the extreme national anti-abortion group Live Action explicitly to be used to indoctrinate young people in our schools.
Here are the inaccurate, misleading, and manipulative elements of these videos.
Indoctrination in Public Schools
Senate Bill 1090 and House Bill 1071 would require students to view a video on fetal development that sounds likely to end up being the "Baby Olivia" or "Baby Oliver" video.
Determining the Embryo's Age
The "Baby Olivia" video counts the embryo's age from conception, which is not how doctors measure pregnancy. Instead. doctors measure from the last known period. That means, in addition to other inaccuracies about development, every milestone is presented two weeks earlier than it happens.
The "Baby Oliver" video includes both correct and inaccurate age calculations, but emphasizes the inaccurate ages visually and uses the inaccurate ages in the voice-over.
The "Fetal Heartbeat" Myth
These videos make a claim commonly made by anti-abortion extremists to justify near-total abortion bans like what we have here in Florida - that a “fetal heartbeat” can be detected at three weeks. Based on this description, you might imagine a heart-shaped organ beating, but this isn’t the case at all.
At this stage, all an ultrasound can detect is "a little flutter in the area that will become the future heart of the baby," according to Dr. Saima Aftab, medical director of the Fetal Care Center at Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Miami who spoke to Live Science. This flutter happens when the cells that will eventually become the "pacemaker" of the heart begin to fire electrical signals, she said.
That's Not What an Embryo Looks Like
The videos use computer-generated video with up-close shots to misrepresent fetal development. Early pregnancy looks nothing like what we’re told by groups like Live Action.
“When a sperm and egg get together, the body creates tissue in order to support the developing pregnancy. This is called the gestational sac, and it’s like the “house” for the pregnancy. Inside this sac there are cells that have the potential to become a fetus but there is no visible embryo at this stage.” - Mya Network - a network of clinicians, activists and patients who want to normalize abortion care, medically and culturally.
“Playing, and exploring”
The "Baby Olivia" video claims, “at 11 weeks, she is playing in the womb, moving her body, and exploring her environment." "Baby Oliver" implies a fetus is "very active" at 12 weeks. Both contradict clinical research that says “distinct movement patterns, such as startle, hiccup, stretch, and head or eye movements usually occur at about 15 gestational weeks."
Survival Outside the Womb
The "Baby Olivia" video claims that “around 20 weeks, with a lot of help, babies have survived outside the womb.” The "Baby Oliver" video similarly claims "Babies have been born and survived outside the womb as early as 19 weeks post Fertilization." Both leave out so much important information.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), “fetal viability depends on many complex factors, of which gestational age is only one.” And given that, deliveries before 23 weeks have a less than 6% survival rate, and with 1% surviving without neurodevelopmental impairment.
Clearly Politically Motivated
These videos were clearly created for a political agenda; the goal to mandate anti-abortion content into school curricula through legislative action. In late 2025, the group's founder said as much: "Baby Olivia has sparked a national movement, inspiring new fetal development education laws in Tennessee, North Dakota, Kansas, Indiana, Idaho, and Iowa." Live Action's productions and political agenda have no place in any curriculum.
Live Action – the group behind the “Baby Olivia” and “Baby Oliver” videos – has been suspended or banned from several social media platforms for spreading conspiracies and disinformation, and for posting graphic fear-mongering content, and has been widely discredited for its inflammatory and doctored videos.
When Questioned, They Have Nothing to Back Their Claims
In April 2024, Fargo Public Schools stopped showing "Baby Olivia" after a 15-year-old student addressed the board and said the video was misleading. The committee investigated the video and reportedly found the following:
- It contains significant portions of untrue information, inaccurate facts, and/or faulty premises.
- Live Action was unable to provide data regarding the effectiveness of the curriculum resource.
