OCALA, FL (352Today.com) – At its August 20, 2026 work session, Marion County School Board members signaled that they want short “fetal development” videos available as optional supplemental material for teachers, following a packed session that drew a large crowd and a lengthy board discussion.

The videos, titled “Meet Baby Olivia” and “Baby Oliver” and produced by anti-abortion organization Live Action, use computer-generated animation to show development from fertilization to birth. Supporters call them accurate teaching tools. Some medical groups and abortion-rights organizations have disputed their timelines and wording.

Eleven speakers addressed the Marion board, each limited to two minutes. All who spoke supported the videos.

John Labriola of the Christian Family Coalition of Florida called it “a very important item that needs to be discussed in your schools” and said similar Florida bills “didn’t pass the Senate” after “one particular senator who sits on a, an education committee” cast “the deciding vote.” He listed other states and Florida districts already using or considering the material, including Sumter, Jefferson, Gilchrist and Flagler.

Amber Pennuto said the video “is currently in use and has been approved twice by the Florida Department of Education.”

Pennuto appealed to the board by use of personal testimony and by asking them to consider the baby’s “humanity.”

“It’s about the humanity of the baby in the womb, and that is why we are asking you to add this to the curriculum. It does not take away from the scientific endeavor to teach children about all the pieces and parts and the stages of fertilization and development. Thirty seconds, what a baby is, that’s all. There’s no reason to hide from that,” she said.

“When I was a young woman, and I was not in the Lord, I made the horrible decision to abort my baby because I was told it was a clump of tissue, and I regret that every day of my life,” she said. “Do not do this to our children.”

Andrew Shirvell of Florida Voice for the Unborn said his group “is in strong support of including either the baby Oliver or the baby Olivia video.”

“In the age of the internet, anybody can go on, including school children, on their own time and look up these videos. We’re not giving them any kind of special knowledge, but it’s important for those that don’t have access or that don’t have that moral aptitude to look at these videos on their own,” he said.

A priest from Williston said in his view, if teens are having sex at the age of 12, there should not be a reason to deny them the video.

“My name is Father Anthony Hamaty. I come from Williston, Florida, Holy Family Catholic Church,” Hamaty said. “I’m here today because we are educating our children, but we’re not creating computers. We’re trying to create people, persons. Look at our society. Where is the connection with persons? That’s why they can beat somebody up, and everybody can watch. We’re getting disconnected because of the phone and the technologies. We have got to make a change now. We have to intervene. If kids are having sex at 12 years old, why can’t we show them a live fetus, a live baby in the womb?” Hamaty said.

Board attorney Jeremy Powers told members curriculum is not primarily a board function. “The board’s powers are predominantly budgetary and not curriculum-based,” Powers said. “Ultimately, that’s a curriculum decision. It’s not really a board decision. That’s a decision for the superintendent and her deputy superintendent and the curriculum department.”

The item was not listed for a vote. Powers said any board direction would most likely take “the form of a consensus opinion that would be given to the superintendent and her team.”

Vice Chair Lori Conrad said she was “leaning” toward treating the videos as supplementary: “Using the text as the base of our instruction, if a student needs further help understanding, it can be offered as a supplementary material.”

Board member Allison Campbell said, “Where I stand on this, frankly, is this would enhance every biology classroom that we have. It would be considered an enhancement that would be three and a half minutes long.”

She compared it to teachers showing the film “10 Things I Hate About You” with “The Taming of the Shrew”: “It’s an enhancement. It helps them understand what they’ve just read, just like what these videos could do for any anatomy and physiology class, any biology class. I am absolutely of the mindset that three and a half minutes out of any student’s day in a hundred and eighty days could benefit from seeing these videos.”

Rev. Eric Cummings, a board member and pastor, said he has “personal beliefs and convictions concerning life” as a father of two daughters but preferred to wait. “I have personal feelings about certain things that are private, but I think that we need to follow the recommendations of our superintendent,” Cummings said.

“There’s a reason why all the districts in the state have not adopted this. There’s a reason. There’s a reason why there are only a few. There are only a few that have actually said that this is a good thing, so why should we be the one that walks that plank,” he said.

Cummings said passionate advocates should work with legislators so the material aligns with state standards statewide rather than district by district.

MCPS Chair Dr. Sarah James said she asked for the work session after earlier public comment and emails.

“I want to say that I believe that our community has so much value in life, and that we live in a community that is full of people like you who believe in life, and I am one of those people, and we live in a community that has people from other walks of life too, and many students come from places where they do not have opportunity to find information like this,” James said.

“I have no qualms with the video. My issue is with the legislator, and so I am fine to move forward with the video.” She compared it to showing a modern film version of “Romeo and Juliet” in English class.

She asked advocates to push the state legislature and Department of Education to align standards with fetal development “as represented and from the vantage point that we all see fetal development.”

“What I would ask those of you that are passionate about this and are activists for this is to speak with the Department of Education, the legislator, to not only expand it to middle school because we are all very aware that sexual acts are happening in middle school, whether in our schools or outside of our schools, and that’s the absence of the traditional family home. But beyond that, that the standards speak to fetal development as represented, and from the vantage point that we all see fetal development, because until we make those connections, I think we’re going to still be sending mixed messages,” James said.

James said she was “not ready to just say it’s required to be shown.” Instead, “What I hear from a majority of the board is a willingness and desire to move forward to put it on an approved list of videos as a supplement… staff hears the majority of the board, and we’ll look forward to seeing some operational shifts based on the board’s discussion today.”

She noted parents can opt out, as they already do for other presentations, and said she did not want families leaving the district over a three-and-a-half-minute video.

Superintendent Diane Brewer noted that families who use Florida Empowerment Scholarships for homeschool or private school are not bound by the same state standards that limit public schools.

The work session ended without a formal vote. Chair James said staff would proceed based on the board’s consensus that the videos should be available on an approved supplemental list.