“Meet Baby Olivia” bill passes House committee

Under HB 1603 by Rep. Emily Gise, a scientifically inaccurate fetal development video could be required viewing for Oklahoma public high school students.

March 11, 2025

A bill that would require Oklahoma public high school students to watch a fetal development video such as “Meet Baby Olivia” – a controversial and scientifically inaccurate depiction of human development inside the womb – has advanced from a House of Representatives committee.

House Bill 1603, by freshman Representative Emily Gise, passed the House Rules Committee on March 4, its first milestone in the legislative process.

“This piece of legislation requires a high-definition ultrasound video, at least three minutes, and a high-quality, computer-generated rendering animation. There are currently many pieces of curriculum out there that can be used that are science-based,” said Gise, answering a question from Representative Nick Archer about whether the bill amounted to an unfunded mandate for school districts. “I believe a school district would be able to get out there and source this curriculum for free online and decide as a school board that that’s the curriculum that they’re going to utilize.”

While HB 1603 doesn’t explicitly mandate that “Meet Baby Olivia”—a three-minute, fifteen-second high definition video created by Live Action, a pro-life nonprofit whose stated mission is to “shift public opinion on the killing of preborn children”—be shown to students, the language of the bill (specifically the requirements for the video to be show) mirror similar laws that passed in North Dakota and Tennessee in recent years.

HB 1265 was signed into law by then-North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum in 2023. “Meet Baby Olivia” was shown to legislators in that state during a committee meeting where the bill was being discussed. In 2024, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed HB 2435/SB 2767 into law, dubbed the Baby Olivia Act.

Back in Oklahoma, Representative Ellyn Hefner asked Gise about “Meet Baby Olivia” while HB 1603 during the committee meeting.

“I was not even familiar with that video until after I myself started looking at content that might fulfill this (legislation),” said Gise. “That video goes above and beyond what is outlined in this. I’d like to mention that. So, for that reason, by it going above and beyond, I would not recommend that video to fulfill this requirement. However, should a school district decide, it could be used.”

An earlier version of HB 1603 would have required parents to sign opt-out forms if they did not want their student to watch the video. Gise said she changed the language so that now parents would have to opt-in for their children to watch the video, adding that the video is intended to be shown to students in grades nine through twelve.

“Is it common to have a graduation requirement that’s not required?” Representative Andy Fugate asked Gise.

Given Oklahoma’s poor rates of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity—47th in the nation, according  to the 2024 Health of Women and Children Report—perhaps public schools should be focusing on educating teen parents on prenatal and postnatal care, Hefner said.

Fugate doubled down on that line of questioning, asking Gise if the bill language could be construed to allow comprehensive sex education in Oklahoma public schools (which would be a good thing!).

“The intention of this is to focus on fetal development, and I specifically removed any mention of fertilization or anything that I felt would lead to sex education,” Gise answered.

HB 1603 is now eligible to be heard on the House floor with its title stricken.

House Speaker Kyle Hilbert instituted a new committee structure this year requiring all House policy bills be passed from their assigned committee and then an oversight committee before advancing to the House floor. Hilbert said his goal is to allow legislators more time to polish their bills in committee before presenting them on the House floor.

However, the committee from which HB 1603 passed, House Rules, does not report to an oversight committee. Its bills advance directly to the House floor. This could be the reason that Gise agreed to strike title, a parliamentary tactic in the Oklahoma Legislature that allows a bill to advance while still a work-in-progress.

Doctors say video scientifically inaccurate

According to a 2024 Forbes article, “the video reportedly uses a different timeline than what doctors typically use for pregnancy—starting from the date of fertilization as opposed to the date of last menstrual period, showing developmental milestones approximately two weeks earlier than generally understood.”

A 2024 UPI story cites the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which states that a fetus is not formed until the ninth week after fertilization, even though “Meet Baby Olivia” calls a fertilized embryo a “fetus” well before that milestone. “Like much anti-abortion misinformation, the ‘Baby Olivia’ video is designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers rather than to share evidence-based, scientific information about embryonic and fetal development,” ACOG said in a statement to UPI. “Many of the claims made in this video are not aligned with scientific fact but rather reflect the biased and ideologic perspectives of the extremists who created the video.”

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