Which state is the best state in the union? For me, it comes down to Florida and Tennessee. Florida has a great legislature, and the best governor in the USA. Tennessee has a great legislature, and an above average governor. If you’re a taxpayer in one of these states, you’ve chosen wisely. You’re getting good value for your taxes. Let’s take a look at the latest win from the great state of Tennessee.

Life Site News reports: (H/T Sandra)

On Tuesday, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the ‘Baby Olivia Act’ into law, requiring public schools to show school children a “high-quality, computer-generated animation or high-definition ultrasound” of unborn babies developing in the womb.

The law cites Live Action’s computer-animated “Baby Olivia” video depicting fertilization and fetal development from conception as an example of an animation that would meet the law’s requirements, which include the depiction of “the development of the brain, heart, and other vital organs in early fetal development.”

[…]Live Action has verified that the video accurately depicts fetal development, citing the review and certification of “leading OBGYNs and medical professionals” including Dr. David Bolender, who has a PhD in Cell Biology, Neurobiology & Anatomy, and Michelle Cretella, MD, Executive Director of the American College of Pediatricians. The information in the video was derived from the Endowment for Human Development, a bioethics nonprofit.

There are 1 million students in Tennessee public schools, and now, they’ll be making decisions about sex based on evidence.

The bill’s sponsor is Gino Bulso, a Republican who represents Brentwood, a wealthy and prestigious area of Tennessee.

He said:

“It is a scientific fact that human life begins at conception,” said Republican state Rep. Gino Bulso, the bill’s lead sponsor, in March. “At fertilization, you’ve got all 46 chromosomes, you have the entire genetic makeup of the child, and from that point on, it’s simply a matter of growth and development. So if you’ve got something that’s growing from the moment of conception on, I have no idea how anybody could say that you did not have life. You obviously, you’ve got life, because something is growing.”

Other states have passed or are considering similar legislation:

LifeSiteNews has previously reported that similar legislation is also being advanced in Iowa and West Virginia; Live Action notes it has also been introduced in Kentucky, Missouri, and Virginia, and enacted in North Dakota.

Is the video accurate? Well, we have first class scientists who have collected the relevant information about this question for us, like Dr. Maureen Condic. Dr. Condic an Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Adjunct Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and recently served on the National Science Board. She earned her Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley, and has published papers in peer-reviewed journals.

One of her publications (PDF) explains what science tells us about the unborn. The title is “When Does Human Life Begin? The Scientific Evidence and Terminology Revisited”. A good paper to have available, especially if your opponent has nothing but purple hair, tattoos and nose piercings. But if you want something easy, you can just use quotations from a variety of embryology textbooks (PDF).

Like this one:

“Human development begins at fertilization, when a sperm fuses with an oocyte to form a single cell, the zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell (capable of giving rise to any cell type) marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.”

Source: Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 10th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2016. p. 11

If you don’t live in a state where public schools teach these facts, then maybe it’s time to think about moving? Why pay taxes in a state that doesn’t take science seriously.