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4 Replies to “HB 1603 (2025)”
The author stated that HB 1603 would not require Meet Baby Olivia and continued to claim she had only recently heard of the video—even when told that nearly identical bills, some titled the Meet Baby Olivia Act, exist in other statehouses.
She said the bill aimed to address Oklahoma’s high teen pregnancy rate. When asked how teaching fetal development alone would reduce pregnancy rates, she said it would promote the “sanctity of life*” but did not elaborate. She firmly stated that HB 1603 was not a sex ed mandate and would not interfere with sex ed curriculum but did not address its relevance to pregnancy prevention.
She clarified that the human development curriculum would be a graduation requirement, but parents or guardians must opt in. When asked if this was contradictory, she insisted it was not.
She denied that HB 1603 is an unfunded mandate, stating that schools could use free, medically accurate materials, with accuracy left to schools and parents. However, she pushed back when challenged on claims that Meet Baby Olivia is not medically accurate.
*This is the first time the author has tacitly acknowledged HB 1603’s connection to anti-abortion policy.
The House Rules Committee approved the bill after members asked questions about its purpose, content, and whether parents had to opt in or out (it was confirmed as opt-in). The title was removed to allow more time to refine the wording. The author stated that the bill was not meant to introduce Meet Baby Olivia into classrooms, saying many videos fit the requirements. Although she claimed not to know about Meet Baby Olivia, HB 1603 is nearly identical to known “Baby Olivia Bills” in other states, some also called “Window into the Womb.”
SB 587 and HB 1603, known nationally as “Baby Olivia Bills,” seek to allow or require schools to show the 3-minute film Meet Baby Olivia. Critics, including medical experts, argue the film goes against U.S. medical standards by calculating fetal development from fertilization rather than the last menstrual period. The implicit intent of Meet Baby Olivia is to distort developmental stages to emphasize abortion’s “harm” to the fetus and promote that life begins at fertilization.
While the bills don’t explicitly mention Meet Baby Olivia or its producer, the anti-abortion group Live Action, they are written so that few educational materials would qualify—making the film the likely default.
Baby Olivia Bills have been introduced in numerous states, including Missouri and Arkansas. They have passed in Tennessee and North Dakota. Read more from CBS News.
Requires grades 1-12 curriculum to include human development education covering the biology of pregnancy and fetal development. The curriculum must include:
A 3-minute ultrasound displaying a full fetus.
An animation illustrating the reproductive process from fertilization onward.
Content must be age-appropriate for grades 1-6 and developmentally appropriate for grades 7-8. Students in grades 9-12 must complete human development education to receive a diploma. These requirements may be integrated into other lessons.
4 Replies to “HB 1603 (2025)”
The author stated that HB 1603 would not require Meet Baby Olivia and continued to claim she had only recently heard of the video—even when told that nearly identical bills, some titled the Meet Baby Olivia Act, exist in other statehouses.
She said the bill aimed to address Oklahoma’s high teen pregnancy rate. When asked how teaching fetal development alone would reduce pregnancy rates, she said it would promote the “sanctity of life*” but did not elaborate. She firmly stated that HB 1603 was not a sex ed mandate and would not interfere with sex ed curriculum but did not address its relevance to pregnancy prevention.
She clarified that the human development curriculum would be a graduation requirement, but parents or guardians must opt in. When asked if this was contradictory, she insisted it was not.
She denied that HB 1603 is an unfunded mandate, stating that schools could use free, medically accurate materials, with accuracy left to schools and parents. However, she pushed back when challenged on claims that Meet Baby Olivia is not medically accurate.
*This is the first time the author has tacitly acknowledged HB 1603’s connection to anti-abortion policy.
The House Rules Committee approved the bill after members asked questions about its purpose, content, and whether parents had to opt in or out (it was confirmed as opt-in). The title was removed to allow more time to refine the wording. The author stated that the bill was not meant to introduce Meet Baby Olivia into classrooms, saying many videos fit the requirements. Although she claimed not to know about Meet Baby Olivia, HB 1603 is nearly identical to known “Baby Olivia Bills” in other states, some also called “Window into the Womb.”
SB 587 and HB 1603, known nationally as “Baby Olivia Bills,” seek to allow or require schools to show the 3-minute film Meet Baby Olivia. Critics, including medical experts, argue the film goes against U.S. medical standards by calculating fetal development from fertilization rather than the last menstrual period. The implicit intent of Meet Baby Olivia is to distort developmental stages to emphasize abortion’s “harm” to the fetus and promote that life begins at fertilization.
While the bills don’t explicitly mention Meet Baby Olivia or its producer, the anti-abortion group Live Action, they are written so that few educational materials would qualify—making the film the likely default.
Baby Olivia Bills have been introduced in numerous states, including Missouri and Arkansas. They have passed in Tennessee and North Dakota. Read more from CBS News.
Requires grades 1-12 curriculum to include human development education covering the biology of pregnancy and fetal development. The curriculum must include:
Content must be age-appropriate for grades 1-6 and developmentally appropriate for grades 7-8. Students in grades 9-12 must complete human development education to receive a diploma. These requirements may be integrated into other lessons.
Similar to Sen. Alvord’s SB 587 (2025).
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