Ohio State Building. (Photo: David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.)
The Ohio House of Representatives has passed a bill that would require Ohio public schools to show students a video produced by an anti-abortion group showing fetal development during Wednesday’s session.
Ohio House Bill 485also known as the “Baby Olivia Enactment Act,” would require schools to show “Baby Olivia” or a similar film to students annually from fifth grade through twelfth grade, beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
The bill, now before the Ohio Senate, would also require students to be shown an ultrasound recording of at least three minutes.
All Ohio House Democrats present at Wednesday’s session voted against the bill.
Ohio State Rep. Melanie Miller, R–Ashland, presented the bill less than two months ago.
The act contains a clause enabling parents to submit a written request to exempt their child from watching a film.
“This legislation strengthens science education in Ohio public schools by providing students with a clear, age-appropriate and evidence-based understanding of early human development,” Miller said.
“The development of human life is truly beautiful. It is a science. It is complex. It is complicated and it is worth learning.”
Three minutes “Meet Little Olivia” in the film produced by the anti-abortion company Live Action, it depicts fertilization and fetal development.
Planned Parenthood Calls ‘Baby Olivia’ Music Video ‘inexact, misleading and manipulative”
Planned Parenthood notes that the video counts the age of the embryo from conception, which doctors do not do; claims that a fetal heartbeat can be detected in the sixth week of pregnancy, even though the heart has not formed, and that the sound actually resembles an electrical fluttering, in its place, which will later form a heart; and it inaccurately represents the appearance of the embryo, mischaracterizes its activity, and omits critical information about the point at which it can survive outside the uterus.
American College Obstetricians and gynecologists do not agree with the bill, claiming that the film shows the gestational age two weeks earlier than the stars and shows that the development of the fetus is more advanced than in reality.
During testimony, a medical student and a doctor questioned the scientific accuracy of the Baby Olivia video.
Ohio Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, proposed an amendment that would have constrained showing the film to high school students, but it was not added to the bill.
“We will limit this to grades 9-12 so that our students will at least have the ability and maturity to appropriately contextualize watching a movie that was created by CGI and that is not medically accurate,” she said.
Ohio’s Right to Life celebrated the House’s passage of the bill.
“Showing students how a baby grows in the womb is not and should not be controversial,” said Carrie Snyder, executive director of Right to Life Ohio. “It’s just science.”
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio supporters condemned the Ohio House for passing Ohio HB 485.
“HB 485 does nothing to address Ohio’s high teen birth rate and rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and instead forces school-aged children to view false medical information about sex education that is inappropriate for all ages and grades, especially elementary school students,” said Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio Executive Director Lauren Blauvelt.
Ohio is one of the few states without comprehensive standards for sex education taught in schools.
Ohio’s curriculum emphasizes abstinence as a general principle and requires some instruction on sexually transmitted infections Ohio Revised Code.
“I think the first step is figuring out what we want to make sure we’re teaching our kids through science,” said state Rep. Phil Robinson, D-Solon.
To date, more than 20 other states have introduced similar bills, and Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota, Tennessee, Iowa and Indiana have passed similar bills.
Abortion is legal in Ohio until the patient’s doctor determines the viability of the fetus. Ohio voters approved a 2023 Ohio constitutional amendment that would added protections for abortion care and reproductive rights to the state constitution.
Follow a Capital Journal reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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