NASHVILLE, Tennessee (LifeSiteNews) — Republicans on the Tennessee House Education Instruction committee gave initial approval Tuesday to a bill that would require public school children be exposed to fetal development information complete with video illustration, as part of a multi-state trend that could dramatically shift the culture’s understanding of abortion.
The Baby Olivia Act would establish that, starting in fall 2024, human growth, development, and/or sexuality instruction “must include the presentation of a high-quality, computer-generated animation or high-definition ultrasound of at least three (3) minutes in duration that shows the development of the brain, heart, sex organs, and other vital organs in early fetal development, such as ‘Meet Baby Olivia,’ a high-quality, computer-generated animation developed by Live Action that shows the process of fertilization and the stages of human development inside the uterus.”
“Baby Olivia” is an animated video which “provides a medically accurate, animated glimpse of human life from the moment of fertilization” and “details her growth as she progresses from one developmental stage to the next, in preparation for her continued life outside of the womb,” according to Live Action. It was “reviewed and certified by leading OBGYNs and medical professionals: Dr David Bolender, PhD, Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, Medical College of Wisconsin | Dr Donna Harrison (AAPLOG) | Dr Tara Sander Lee (Charlotte Lozier) | Dr Katrina Furth (Charlotte Lozier) | Michelle Cretella, MD, Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians | Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA, (Ethics) Senior VP Bioethics and Public Policy.”
The video’s accompanying website lays out week-by-week development for the first 40 weeks, rendered in vivid detail and accessibly highlighting facts that emphasize just how early recognizable hallmarks of humanity can be identified, such as the beginnings of heart and brain development as early as week three, discernible fingers and toes in weeks five and six, and a distinct face by week nine.
“It is a scientific fact that human life begins at conception,” said Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso, the bill’s lead sponsor. “At fertilization, you’ve got all 46 chromosomes, you have the entire genetic makeup of the child, and from that point on, it’s simply a matter of growth and development. So if you’ve got something that’s growing from the moment of conception on, I have no idea how anybody could say that you did not have life. You obviously, you’ve got life, because something is growing.”
In response to criticism from Democrats and other leftists, Live Action simply asks, “Why are pro-abortion activists so afraid of Baby Olivia? Because when students learn the scientific reality that life begins at fertilization – they realize that killing preborn babies is wrong.”
Long-settled biological criteria and mainstream medical textbooks establish that a living human being, structurally and genetically distinct from his or her mother, is created upon fertilization and is present throughout the entirety of pregnancy – regardless of whether that embryonic human is being artificially sustained outside of the womb.
This is not in serious dispute; in 2019, University of Chicago Department of Comparative Human Development graduate Steve Jacobs found that 96 percent of more than 5,500 biologists he surveyed agreed, despite overwhelmingly identifying as “liberal,” “pro-choice,” and Democrats, and a majority identifying as “non-religious.” Many abortionists and pro-abortion activists and philosophers admit as much, granting preborn babies’ humanity while either asserting that a mother’s “bodily autonomy” trumps her baby’s rights or making the loaded claim that some humans do not necessarily count as “persons.”
Abortion defenders tend to single out for objection the earliness of the heartbeat, which forms the basis for six-week abortion bans across the country, on the grounds that “electrical impulses” detected at or before six weeks are supposedly not actual heartbeats yet. But mainstream medical textbooks have long affirmed that the heart begins pumping blood as early as three weeks, and electrical activity related to heart functions is still a sign of life, even when the physical structures necessary to receive those signals are not yet fully formed.
“In order for the embryo to develop into a fetus, circulation must replace diffusion,” explains pediatric cardiologist Dr. Regina Lantin-Hermoso. “And for this reason — if there is no circulation, then the rest of the organ systems are not going to develop and therefore the cardiovascular system is the very first organ system to reach maturity. Cardiac development begins very early… at about 15 to 18 days post-conception.”
Republicans have strong majorities in both chambers of the Tennessee General Assembly, and Republican Gov. Bill Lee has established a consistent pro-life record, so the bill’s prospects for becoming law are strong. LifeSiteNews has previously reported that similar legislation is also being advanced in Iowa and West Virginia; Live Action notes it has also been introduced in Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia, and enacted in North Dakota.
Since 2022, pro-lifers and Republicans have been divided on the political expediency of taking a clear stand against abortion, with many afraid public opinion may be trending against life, or at least stagnating. Making it standard practice to give public school students a clear understanding that the preborn are living human children early in their development has significant potential to change that and to provoke the next generation of Americans to better recognize exactly who it is that abortion destroys.