“Baby Olivia” is an educational animated video illustrating human development from fertilization until the point that a baby is ready to be born. Live Action, a pro-life advocacy group, made the three-minute video. This video, or ones like it, may soon be shown in classrooms in several states.

“The Baby Olivia project provides a medically accurate, animated glimpse of human life from the moment of fertilization. The story details her growth as she progresses from one developmental stage to the next, in preparation for her continued life outside of the womb,” the video webpage says.

Here’s the Baby Olivia video:

Lawmakers in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia are considering bills that would require this video or a video like it to be shown in public schools, the AP reports. North Dakota has already passed such a bill.

Other Educational Videos and Their Power to Change Minds on Abortion

Live Action knows the power of a brief video to change people’s minds on abortion. The advocacy group has several videos of people changing their mind on abortion after being shown another one of Live Action’s videos containing an educational animation of an abortion procedure.

"After seeing that, I am against abortion." pic.twitter.com/y1hlpY2dm2

— Live Action (@LiveAction) February 23, 2024

When people see the reality of abortion, their minds change. pic.twitter.com/hZjHpQMyNu

— Live Action (@LiveAction) September 12, 2023

Here’s the video the woman and man in these videos watched:

After changing his mind on abortion, the man in the second video said of the abortion video, “I feel like that should be in school.” He said the video should be shown somewhere so as to be in the public knowledge, and not just available to people if they’re looking for it.

While a video illustrating abortion is not the same as the Baby Olivia and similar videos lawmakers are considering, these videos are thought provoking. The apparent power of educational videos to change people’s minds on abortion prompts the question: Are many people simply ill-informed on fetal development and abortion procedures?

How many others whose view of abortion is “her body, her choice,” would change their minds if they could accurately picture an abortion and a human fetus? How many people consent in an uninformed way to abortion, or vote or promote their views on abortion from a place of not really knowing what they’re talking about? Would it serve the public for schools to show videos like these?

Aliya Kuykendall is a staff writer and proofreader for The Stream. You can follow Aliya on X @AliyaKuykendall and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.