{"id":306299,"date":"2024-02-03T11:45:41","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T17:45:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=306299"},"modified":"2024-02-07T22:11:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T04:11:57","slug":"baby-olivia-medically-accurate-fetal-development-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/baby-olivia-medically-accurate-fetal-development-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Live Action’s ‘Baby Olivia’ fetal development video is medically accurate despite media claims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Live Action’s Baby Olivia<\/span><\/a> video, a medically accurate, animated glimpse of human life from the moment of fertilization, has come under fire from local media sources as pro-life legislators draft state bills to ensure accurate fetal development is taught in schools.<\/span><\/p>\n

Live Action created Baby Olivia<\/span> with a panel of medical professionals, including experts in embryonic and fetal development, who also endorsed the project \u2014 <\/span>Dr. David Bolender<\/span><\/a>; <\/span>Dr. Donna Harrison<\/span><\/a>; <\/span>Dr. Tara Sander Lee<\/span><\/a>; <\/span>Dr. Katrina Furth<\/span><\/a>; <\/span>Michelle Cretella, MD<\/span><\/a>; and <\/span>Jeffrey Barrows, DO, MA<\/span><\/a>. Much of the information in the video was gleaned directly from the Endowment for Human Development<\/a>, which describes itself as \u201ca nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health science education and public health.\u201d EHD<\/a> is \u201c\u200b\u200bcommitted to neutrality<\/a> regarding all controversial bioethical issues and states that its “board of directors, board of advisors, staff, and volunteers includes accomplished educators, researchers, authors, programmers, and clinicians from a variety of scientific and business disciplines who share the common goal of improving lifelong health through prenatal development-based education.\u201d U.S. science educators have endorsed the organization\u2019s award-winning content, which National Geographic also distributes.<\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that all gestational markers utilized in the Baby Olivia video are <\/span>calculated<\/span><\/a> relative to fertilization (also called \u201cconception\u201d), not to the last menstrual period (LMP) \u2014 known as gestational age \u2014 which is often used elsewhere and which adds approximately two weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Kentucky, House Bill 346 would require<\/a> that beginning in middle school, public schools incorporate into the curriculum a human development video within the parameters that Olivia meets. In addition, Iowa House File 2031 would require<\/a> the video to be shown in health classes from first grade through high school. In North Dakota, House Bill 1265, which requires that schools incorporate a human development video within the same parameters of the Olivia video into the classroom, was signed<\/a> into law last year by Governor Doug Burgum.<\/p>\n

Though the Baby Olivia video uses medically accurate, research-backed information, media outlets are attempting to delegitimize it.<\/p>\n

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