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Victoria Lambert is the associate director of local strategies at Reproaction.
Earlier this year, Florida state Representative Dana Trabulsy (R) said in a legislative hearing that she “hate[s] ‘Baby Olivia,’” a propaganda video produced by the anti-abortion organization Live Action. Here’s the problem: Trabulsy herself is the sponsor of a so-called fetal development education bill based on the “Baby Olivia” video, which aims to make its unscientific and dogmatic content mandatory viewing for schoolchildren. In fact, much of the language in Trabulsy’s bill—which she’s put forward for two consecutive years—was actually written by Live Action, which opposes not just abortion, but birth control and even in vitro fertilization, which it says should be banned.
Why, if Rep. Trabulsy “hates” the “Baby Olivia” video so much, is she allowing Live Action to have such significant sway over her legislative priorities? Especially considering the group’s ties to violent individuals, and the fact that its leader has expressed support for prosecuting people who have abortions. Like Trabulsy, anti-abortion legislators around the country have sought to distance themselves from Live Action, signaling they know that tying themselves to an extremist anti-abortion (and anti-birth control, and anti-IVF) organization is not a good look.
In an online “debate” last year, Live Action’s founder and president, Lila Rose, said that abortion “should be treated like murder … There should be penalties for people that kill other people.” Her organization awarded Bevelyn Beatty Williams at its fundraising gala last year. Williams was convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for her participation in the 2020 blockade of a New York abortion clinic, during which she injured a medical staffer. She was pardoned by Donald Trump last year. Beyond Live Action’s problematic connections and beliefs, its “Baby Olivia” video has been widely criticized by OBGYNs and leading reproductive health care organizations as being inaccurate and sensationalistic.
Yet “Baby Olivia”-style bills are proliferating in state legislatures nationwide, often borrowing language directly from Live Action’s model legislation even as their sponsors and supporters try to put more and more daylight between themselves and the extremist anti-abortion group. Increasingly, these bills don’t mention the “Baby Olivia” video by name, but they still describe Live Action’s video to a tee.
Trabulsy herself has called for a more “accurate” video than “Baby Olivia” to be shown to students. In Arkansas, Republican state Senator Joshua Bryant—a co-sponsor of a 2025 bill mandating fetal development education—expressed concern about attaching Live Action’s content to this legislation, saying, “what if Live Action becomes something that I don’t agree with tomorrow … it may be to our detriment that we are mandating this to be taught at our schools and then not having the ability for our schools to have other options.” In Oklahoma, the sponsor of a similar bill denied she had heard of Live Action or “Baby Olivia” when she wrote her bill—even though it essentially describes the “Baby Olivia” video and was celebrated by Live Action as a proposal inspired by their video.
Other lawmakers supporting “Baby Olivia”-type bills haven’t even tried to pretend their proposals are about evidence-based information and education, admitting that they don’t care whether schoolchildren as young as third grade are subjected to right-wing propaganda in public schools.
Florida Representative Alex Rizo (R), co-sponsor of Trabulsy’s bill, recently said, “I don’t think that we need medically accurate curriculum, because we’re not teaching in a medical school.” In a suspiciously similar comment, Utah Republican state Representative Karianne Lisonbee (R) said a week later that “no fifth or sixth grader … is thinking about, ‘Oh my gosh, this is not medically accurate, because some medical professionals use LMP, and some medical professionals sometimes will refer to actual fertilization.’” Lisonbee was referring to the testimony medical professionals have given that “Baby Olivia” is not accurate in part because it counts gestational age from “conception” instead of from the first day of the last menstrual period, or LMP—the standard approach in medicine.
These shockingly apathetic comments from legislators demonstrate what reproductive rights advocates have been saying since “Baby Olivia” was released: This video is propagandist, inaccurate, and anyone who believes students should be given unbiased, evidence-based information cannot support showing it in schools.
With the deluge of anti-abortion legislation churning through state legislatures after the fall of Roe, some may question why it’s worth focusing on “Baby Olivia,” rather than bills that might at first seem to do more immediate harm, such as abortion bans. But “Baby Olivia” can’t be ignored, because Live Action and other anti-abortion lobby groups do not intend to stop until abortion for everyone is banned everywhere.
The success of “Baby Olivia” gives Live Action and similar extremist groups inroads with decision-makers, which will almost certainly result in them pushing for more harmful proposals. And it’s clear that Live Action seeks to curry favor with lawmakers: For the past five years, the group has hosted an expenses-paid, closed-door, invite-only summit for state lawmakers, which the group uses to promote its preferred legislation. The website for this year’s convening plainly states that it “seeks to end abortion in the U.S. by gathering like-minded influencers and equipping them with the tools to protect every child."
Supporters of reproductive freedom and scientifically sound education must oppose these bills everywhere they are proposed, and must denounce any incorporation of Live Action’s content into curricula in those states where the legislation has already passed. Indeed, fetal development education bills inspired by Live Action’s “Baby Olivia” video have been given the green light by six states since 2023, sending the message that it's okay not only to allow, but to require, disinformation and propaganda to be shown to schoolchildren.
Live Action sees the proliferation of these bills as a momentous success, which will no doubt embolden them to continue meddling in state lawmaking—to all our detriment.
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