STUDENTS MUST WATCH ANTI-ABORTION VIDEO IF BILL PASSES

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A bill that would require students to watch a three-minute video that says human life starts at fertilization will be voted on in the state House of Representatives on March 18.

The video is named “Meet Baby Olivia,” and starts by showing a fully-formed infant in a womb before transitioning to depict a fertilized egg implanting inside a uterus.

The video said that after around three weeks the embryo’s heartbeat “can be detected,” and has brain activity after six weeks of fertilization. It also said at nine weeks, a fetus will sigh and stretch, before “playing in the womb” at 11 weeks.

“This is Olivia. Though she has yet to greet the outside world, she has already completed an amazing journey,” the video said at the start. “This is the moment that life begins. A new human being has come into existence. At fertilization, her gender, ethnicity, hair color, eye color and countless traits are already determined.”

According to documents from the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, a heartbeat can be seen on an ultrasound between five and six weeks from conception. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said a heart is formed at around three weeks from conception.

“This bill is a piece of anti-abortion legislation that is being moved through our committee so that it is integrated into our public school system,” Rep. Aftyn Behn (D – Nashville) during a March 6 meeting of the Education Instruction Subcommittee.

“Physicians feel like this information is not accurate. One particular OB-GYN while speaking for ACOG said the video also mischaracterizes how early survival outside the womb is possible, the video’s heartbeat mentions are problematic because the heart would not yet be developed at the point that it claims. He noted that the video uses the sound of a fully-developed heartbeat, rather than the electrical impulses that are apparent at that time,” said Rep. Gloria Johnson (D – Knoxville).

She also said there is scientific consensus on the moment that life begins. She also said it advances the idea that fetuses are people and that abortion care is wrong.