Live Action’s news correspondent Christina Bennett spoke at the United Nations this week at the UN’s celebration of the International Day of Families, hosted by the Group of Friends of the Family, and organized by the Permanent Mission of Belarus to the United Nations and by The Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam). The theme of the event, which featured various speakers, focused on the family and the future of humanity. A memo featuring background information about the event noted:
It is no accident that family is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as “the natural and fundamental group unit of society” and “entitled to protection by society and the State.” Societies where the family is weakened and undermined have no future.
… [T]o achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development [we] must focus on the family because of its essential function as primary educator, economic driver, and social safety net….
The Summit for the Future must recognize the family’s role in sustainable development in all its dimensions, social, economic and environmental. And it must include protection of the family as a cross-cutting issue. States must provide a legal and policy environment that promotes family formation, stability, and social respect and support.
Protection of the family is essential to peace and security. It is essential to development. The family is central to social stability and good governance.
Bennett’s own story — she was “scheduled to be aborted, but was saved” — is compelling. And her speech focused on the need to educate the future of humanity about abortion and about human life, which begins well before birth. Abortion has had a devastating impact on societies and families globally.
Educating humans about their own beginnings
Bennett began by referring to a woman with whom she had personally spoken years ago, who had a traumatic abortion experience. This woman began to question the circumstances that led to her abortion — not just her immediate circumstances, but her way of thinking. “One day it dawned on her,” Bennett said. “She remembered a lie that she was taught as a child. Planned Parenthood sex ed instructors came into her school and deceived her into thinking that a growing human life was merely a “clump of cells.” A so-called sex educator planted a seed that birthed destruction in her life. How often does this happen in classrooms across our country? We know it is happening every day.”
She noted that this is because “Planned Parenthood prides itself on being the single largest provider of sex education in US public schools,” and added that organization’s own most recent annual report “accounted for over 390,000 abortions a year.”
“We cannot trust an organization that profits greatly from the deaths of preborn children to give medically accurate information about the developing person,” Bennett added.
Bennett then mentioned Live Action and its mission as a human rights organization, and its understanding of “the importance of educating students on the beauty, dignity and value of human life.” In line with this mission, Live Action created “Baby Olivia,” a “state of the art animation created in partnership with leading OBGYNs and medical professionals.”
The life-like animated video displays Baby Olivia from the moment her life begins — at fertilization, when a new human organism with its own unique DNA comes into being.
Bennett noted that lawmakers in various states are working to incorporate “Baby Olivia” or similar prenatal education videos into classrooms. She said:
In 2023 North Dakota bravely became the first state to pass a Baby Olivia Act. Tennessee followed in April of 2024 with a law requiring the inclusion of Baby Olivia or another similar human development video to be used in school curriculum this year. Over a million public school students in Tennessee and North Dakota will be educated on human development in the womb thanks to Baby Olivia bills being signed into law. Six additional states have proposed similar legislation and we’re eager to see where Baby Olivia will be signed into law next.
Media and abortion industry oppose prenatal education
“As Baby Olivia is reaching students, the media is seeking to discredit it,” noted Bennett, pointing out that the media has portrayed the video as “controversial.”
“A medically accurate animation should not be controversial, but in a society that denies the personhood of preborn children, it is,” she added. “A USA Today article is titled, ‘What is the Baby Olivia video? Another Republican lie about abortion.'”
“Those headlines are wrong,” said Bennett. “Baby Olivia was created with a panel of medical professionals, including experts in embryonic and fetal development, who also endorsed the project.”
She noted that, as Live Action News has pointed out, the abortion industry and its media allies “are terrified of the truth about human development. They do not want students knowing and understanding developmental markers such as when life begins or when their heart starts to beat. The abortion industry profits from ignorance.”
Bennett also informed her audience about how critics of “Baby Olivia” have claimed that the video presents the age of the preborn baby inaccurately, yet this is false. The objection lies with the fact that doctors typically date a pregnancy from the woman’s last known menstrual period (LMP) instead of from fertilization. She described the issue:
All gestational markers utilized in the Baby Olivia video are calculated relative to fertilization (also called “conception”), not to the last menstrual period (LMP) — which is often used elsewhere and which adds approximately two weeks.
Baby Olivia calculates age from fertilization because that is when a new human life comes into existence and begins to grow.
Clinicians often use the Last Menstrual period with patients because that is a convenient way to track an individual pregnancy, but it adds about two weeks to the child’s age.
Dating from fertilization or conception gives us the true fetal age which refers to the length of pregnancy from the time of conception.
Family and Future of Humanity Event screenshot
Beyond the classroom
Bennett noted that while “Baby Olivia” may find its way into some schools, “its reach must go beyond those institutions.”
“We want this groundbreaking animation in public and private schools, homeschools, and community organizations. In religious and pro-life settings, it is vitally important that people receive a robust education that pairs science with philosophy. It is crucial for young and old to understand when human life begins and how it develops in the womb,” she said.
She encouraged the audience to “partner with us to ensure Baby Olivia reaches those who need to see it,” such as students, pregnant mothers, faith and community leaders, and politicians and those in office such as school board members, state legislators, town council members, and more.
She also suggested sharing “Baby Olivia” on social media and “on podcasts, radio shows and television programs. Invite parents, educators and community leaders into settings where ‘Baby Olivia’ can be shown,” because “We know Baby Olivia has the power to change hearts and minds. We have seen this reality when sharing it with people through outreach….”
“We will end abortion when every human being’s universal human rights are respected,” she stated.
Bennett then reminded the audience at the event that the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person… Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law…” and that “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.”
“I call on every member state of the United Nations to protect the universal human rights of every person, regardless of their age, and stop abortion,” Bennett concluded. “Baby Olivia reminds us that our youngest neighbors, our preborn children, are humans who possess the right to life. With your help, Baby Olivia will continue to have a global impact.”
