West Virginia’s Republican-majority Senate greenlit a bill on Tuesday that would make a video on fetal development produced by an anti-abortion group required viewing in public schools.

Live Action’s “Baby Olivia” video, which West Virginia lawmakers want to show in eighth and tenth-grade classrooms, has received criticism from physicians and educators who say it misleads viewers. It is already being used in some schools in North Dakota, though it wasn’t specifically mandated in the law passed last year in that state. Similar bills have been proposed in Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri.

The bill now heads to the House of Delegates for consideration.

The animated video is meant to visualize development in the womb, depicting an egg being fertilized and implanted and progressing through embryonic and fetal developments occurring throughout a pregnancy. A voiceover introduces viewers to Olivia as an illustration of a fully developed baby in utero appears on screen. Olivia’s mouth and eyes open and close, and her hands move.

  • @LEDZeppelin
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    487 months ago

    Cruelty is the point.

    Do they also require grocery store meat sections to show videos how animals are butchered?

    • @captainlezbian
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      137 months ago

      There’s a difference. The videos of butchering are realistic

  • Flying Squid
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    257 months ago

    So it will show very clearly that an IVF fertilized embryo is not a baby?

    I think these red states need to get coordinated.

    • Admiral Patrick
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      7 months ago

      I think these red states need to get coordinated.

      As someone who lives in this particular one, “coordinated” is not the word I was thinking should end that sentence. The word I had in mind was shorter and started with the letter ‘F’.

  • partial_accumen
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    137 months ago

    With their core principle that life is precious, at the same time Republican-majority Senate is also requiring the public school viewing of videos of graphic depictions of victims of gun violence, right? Right?!

  • @800XL
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    97 months ago

    Had to watch an actual video of an abortion in school. All it did was really make me question the sanity of the teacher that watched it multiple times a semester year in and year out. I think she actually liked it. And it actually had the opposite effect on me. If a woman was willing to put herself thru that because she knew she wasn’t ready to be a parent and knew she couldn’t provide for that child properly then who the fuck am I or anyone else to tell her no?

    Having an abortion isn’t irresponsible, raising a child (or more than one) and neglecting them is irresponsible.

    P.S. same school kicked out a couple girls for getting pregnant. pro-life as it gets.

  • HopeOfTheGunblade
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    97 months ago

    I was hoping the anti abortion group was going to have to watch an actual video on fetal development. I know it wouldn’t be, but the hope was there.