Fact-Checking the Baby Olivia Video
Tucked within 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" video. This video was 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 the video.
Indoctrination in Public Schools
House Bill 1255 would require students to view a video on fetal development that sounds likely to end up being the "Baby Olivia" video.
Determining the Embryo's Age
This 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 "Fetal Heartbeat" Myth
This video makes a claim commonly made by anti-abortion extremists to justify six-week abortion bans like we have here in Florida - that a “fetal heartbeat” can be detected at six weeks (or three weeks in this video because of the inaccurate timing.) 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
This video uses 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 video claims, “at 11 weeks, she is playing in the womb, moving her body, and exploring her environment." This contradicts 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 video claims that “around 20 weeks, with a lot of help, babies have survived outside the womb.” This leaves 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.
When Questioned, They Have Nothing to Back Their Claims
In April 2024, Fargo Public Schools stopped showing this video 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.
