Have you heard about 'Baby Olivia'? It's how Republicans are lying to kids about abortion.
Who is "Baby Olivia," and why is she giving students inaccurate information?
That's what I had to find out
“Meet Baby Olivia,” a three-minute video produced by the anti-abortion group Live Action, is the foundation of the latest bill that some states are considering to further dissuade people from having the procedure. The bills would have students watch the video in health class.
In Tennessee, the legislation is a Senate vote away from landing on the governor’s desk. In Missouri, the bill would require the video be shown by the time students reach third grade. It is also being considered in Iowa and Kentucky.
Instead of getting information based in science, the "Baby Olivia" video’s purpose is to dissuade viewers from choosing an option that is already heavily stigmatized. That will only hurt students.
What is the 'Baby Olivia' video?
“Meet Baby Olivia” features an animated video of fetal development inside a uterus during pregnancy while a woman’s voice details what’s happening on screen.
Medical experts say the video’s timeline is about two weeks earlier than what doctors agree on. It’s also inaccurate in the way it depicts the range of movement for a fetus, showing Olivia moving much more than the average fetus would during the early stages of development.
These concerns haven’t stopped legislators from considering it.
Proposed legislation about the video depicting pregnancy inaccurately has been filed in six state legislatures. North Dakota was the first state to pass a “Baby Olivia" bill last year. West Virginia’s version failed to advance before the end of the legislative session.
In five of these six states – Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia – abortion is banned with with very limited exceptions. Iowa has a 22-week ban, with a six-week ban tied up in the state’s Supreme Court.
"What’s the worst that can happen?" Iowa Rep. Luana Stoltenberg told The Associated Press. "Maybe a young child learns how they are developed and grow and so if they become pregnant, they decide maybe I don’t want an abortion? Is that a horrible thing?"
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The worst that can happen, which Republicans don't want to acknowledge, is that we would be giving kids inaccurate information to further limit how much control they have over their own bodies while also limiting their access to birth control information.
States would rather scare kids than offer actual sex education
Why not focus on sex education instead?
Sex education in the United States is lackluster to begin with. Only 39 states and Washington, D.C., require sex ed and/or HIV to be taught in schools, and fewer than half of them require it to be medically accurate. Thirty-seven states require abstinence to be part of the curriculum.
You can see the effects of this in our teenage pregnancy rate, which is higher than many other developed nations.
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“Meet Baby Olivia” is just another hindrance to getting teenagers the comprehensive sexual health information they need – and it is something they need. States that do have comprehensive sex education programs have a lower rate of teen pregnancy.
One study found that when comprehensive sex education is federally funded, the teen pregnancy birth rate falls by 3%.
'Baby Olivia' shows how much misinformation there is about pregnancy and abortion
Videos and literature dissuading patients from terminating a pregnancy are already part of many states’ standard abortion procedures. The Guttmacher Institute found that 33 states require counseling before undergoing an abortion. While not all of the information relayed is biased toward the pro-life movement, some of these states already give out inaccurate information.
Five states require patients to be told that life begins at conception. Eight states require inaccurate information about when a medication abortion can be stopped. Five states include inaccurate information about the risk of breast cancer after having an abortion.
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There’s also the risk of ending up at "crisis pregnancy centers," which can be unlicensed facilities that provide disinformation on pregnancy and abortion.
Every state has some version of these “care centers,” which often don’t have any licensed physicians on site.
Baby Olivia Act is just another attack on abortion
The Baby Olivia Act is just another attack on abortion access meant to further stigmatize the procedure and the patients who choose it while doing nothing to help spread useful information or actually help families.
It might feel like just another piece of disinformation, but the video is designed in a way to make teenagers feel guilty for something they should not feel guilty about.
For the people living in these states, one option is to vote with this bill in mind come November. Missouri is considering several ballot measures on abortion. Kentucky voters already made it clear in 2022 that they do not want an abortion ban in their constitution, even though the state’s complete ban is still in effect.
While these other states won’t have a vote directly on abortion rights, it’s still possible to hold legislators accountable by voting them out.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is the Baby Olivia video? Another Republican lie about abortion
