Three weeks from Election Day, Flagler County School Board member Will Furry requested that the board consider that a controversial gestation video known as “Meet Baby Olivia,” produced by an anti-abortion group, be discussed at a future meeting for possible inclusion in the local curriculum.
Furry made the request near the end of Tuesday evening’s School Board meeting after what appeared to be an orchestrated effort, led by a Tallahassee lobbyist, to push the district in that direction. Flagler County would be an outlier in the state if it did so.
“I know that this community has made efforts to provide alternatives to support life and to support mothers in choosing something other than abortion,” Furry said, referring to a “safe haven” box’s installation at a local fire station last year, though the installation had nothing to do with abortion. “It’s clear to me that this community has a desire to continue that conversation. So I would like to ask that at our next board meeting, we review the baby Olivia fetal development video and see how that might fit into Flagler School’s curriculum.”
Twice in the last two years, a legislator attempted to require public school students to watch at least one-minute gestation videos. Twice the effort failed. But the legislator, Dana Trabulsi, had also expressly said she would work against the showing of the “Baby Olivia” video due to its inaccuracies and manipulative tone.
Board Chair Christy Chong only asked that the video be sent to each board member ahead of time. Board members Janie Ruddy and Lauren Ramirez did not react, as the suggestion had immediately followed the unexpected but clearly planned public comments by half a dozen people.
The local lobbying was led by Andrew Shirvell, a controversial anti-abortion activist who was previously associated with St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s “Respect Life Ministry” (he was a Palm Coast resident from 2013 to 2019) and who founded the Tallahassee-based Florida Voice for the Unborn.
Board members had been receiving emails from Shirvell or his group for a couple of weeks. “I don’t know if other board members have ties to the advocate from Tallahassee,” Ruddy said this morning. “I’ve already done some research on this video, but to be honest with this current board research data logic are not considered.”
Shirvell said he was joined by about a dozen Flagler County residents to ask the board “to request approval from the Florida Department of Education to add the teaching of human embryologic and fetal development to the public school curriculum in this county,” as Sumter and Jefferson counties have. It would require a formal request to the state department. The School Board would have to approve that request.
The curriculum includes playing the so-called “Baby Olivia” video. “Whether or not this board decides a video lesson like the one provided in the excellent Baby Olivia video is appropriate,” Shirvell said, “there must be meaningful lessons of some sort presented on human embryologic and fetal development from grades six through 12.”
In 2010, Shirvell was fired from his job as a deputy attorney general in Michigan after using his blog–which he wrote under an assumed name–to describe the then-then-University of Michigan student-body president as a “radical homosexual activist, racist, elitist & liar,” a “privileged pervert” who hosted “gay orgies,” was “Satan’s representative,” and who acted like a Nazi, among other characterizations. The University of Michigan’s newspaper described his blog as “undisguised bigotry.”
In August 2012, following a jury verdict in federal court, Shirvell–who had refused to apologize to the student–was ordered to pay the student $4.5 million for maliciously defaming him, stalking him and intentionally inflicting emotional distress on him. The court “renewed” the judgment in 2022, for $3.5 million.
Shirvell’s request was echoed by a few others, one of them said the videos “invite dialog, encourage critical thinking,” and “respect for life.” Wayne Friday said he sees the video as “nothing whatsoever, other than biological development of a of a baby in the womb,” and that “a lot of the women will embrace it. Maybe not so much the guys, but the women will embrace it and see how sacred it really is, because women are just special. I mean, so special to me. I believe women are just outrageously special.” Another resident said the video “ simply states biological and physiological facts.”
Not necessarily.
Though described as a “never before seen look at human life in the womb,” the video is computer-generated. Inaccuracies and critical omissions abound. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists told the Associated Press in a 2024 email that the video is anti-abortion misinformation “designed to manipulate the emotions of viewers.”
The video, a Planned Parenthood fact-check notes, fabricates the look of an “embryo” immediately after conception, though the amalgam of cells at that stage looks nothing like the computer-generated image of a fuzzy, shiny white ball resting on a cushy shag of pink. In fact, there is no visible embryo at that stage, when up to 60 percent of. It characterizes electrical signals, or flutters barely detectable by ultrasound in formative stages as a “fetal heartbeat” at three weeks.
There is no mention that, according to UCLA-Health, “at least 30–60% of all conceptions will end within the first 12 weeks of gestation. Up to 50% of the time, the woman doesn’t even realize that she was ever pregnant.” There is no mention of the mother in the video, leaving viewers to infer that the “baby” exists on its own, and that the mother’s conditions are irrelevant.
Several states, among them West Virginia, Tennessee and North Dakota, approved legislation allowing–but not requiring–public schools to show gestation videos.
It is a misconception that the Florida Legislature approved a bill allowing for the showing of the “Baby Olivia” video or videos like it. The Legislature twice attempted to pass such a bill and twice failed.
Last year Florida Rep. Dana Trabulsi introduced a bill that would, according to a legislative bill analysis, have required “that instruction on human embryologic development be included in health education for students in grades 6 through 12 ,” and that the instruction “include a high-definition, medically accurate ultrasound video showing the development of the heart and other organs and movement of the limbs and head.” (See the bill’s original wording here.)
The requirement was dropped from the final version of what was a broad education bill with numerous provisions that had nothing to do with embryology. (See the final bill analysis here.)
Trabulsi tried again this year and again failed to include the measure in a bill.
Notably, Trabulsi had promised that she would work against approval of the Baby Olivia video as appropriate, given its medically suspect information.
The state Department of Education has not approved the video as part of its curriculum, Ruddy said, but school boards are not barred from approving certain materials for the curriculum. There is a process, however.
“At the time of our board meeting last night, I had not seen the video,” Ramirez, the School Board member, said this morning. “After the board meeting, I watched the video with my husband; it was a very basic and short overview of the human gestation process, as was represented by many of the speakers during public comment. As scientific findings are continuously being tested and revised, as a board we should review what is currently state approved, what is currently approved in our District, and what new materials may be available. Offering a more modern or current presentation of information is what we should strive for so our students are equipped with the best available information and educational tools. As a mom of four with a biomedical science and public health degree, I’d like to ensure any content shared with students is medically accurate and age appropriate. As for the request itself, as I always do, I will do my research and we will workshop as we do with any other item.”
Ramirez would not speculate on the timing of the request, though whether or not it was intended as an issue–or a wedge issue–at the height of the campaign may be a moot point: the board next meets for a workshop on Aug. 25, a week after the election, though nothing stops Furry from using last night’s move on the campaign trail. Furry is in a two-way race against Rob Wood. Chong is in a three-way race against Trevor Tucker and Ron Long. Cathy Moon and Jill Woolbright are contesting the District 1 open seat.
https://youtu.be/S-lQOooYAs8?si=WquU56pFckZ6I521
The dude says
FFS…
What Else Is New says
It’s time for a change on the Flagler County School Board. Sanity will return with a vote for Moon, Long and Wood.
Common Sense says
Sanity will return only when reality does, and delusion loses its grip on perception.
R.S. says
I wish that half the fervor of protecting potential life might go to protecting the living by funding SNAP, providing healthcare, and funding schooling including advanced degrees and rectificatory learning as in our jails and prisons. What hypocritical idiots those Christian zealots be!
Kennan says
Very well said RS!
Conservative right so fervently fights for the unborn, but once they’re born….. FUCK EM.
justme says
Good grief. Another of the many reasons to keep Will Furry from remaining on the Board….as well as his two other religious fanatics, Jill Woolbright and Christy Chong.
Pig Farmer says
Thanks Mr. Furry. I appreciate you showing your true colors BEFORE the election. I wasn’t planning on voting for you anyway, but am grateful you confirmed my decision on how I will vote.
Bailey’s Mom says
Here we go again…a bunch of nonsense and misguided religious information coming from Mr. Furry! I hope Flagler County has had enough of him, Chong, and Woolbright and finally put our students and schools first! Vote them OUT for good.
How about some sexual health education that will truly help our HS students learn facts about their bodies.
NPA Voter says
@ Bailey’s Mom: AMEN!!! How about we spend as much effort in providing factual, scientific, effective education to help young people AVOID getting pregnant so the decision does not have to be made whether to have the child, give it up for adoption, or terminate. I coached a high school team for a few years and overheard and saw a LOT. The ones with the “not my child” attitude were grandmothers years ahead of me! Does proper education prevent them from having sex? Not necessarily, but it can prevent unwanted consequences. Again, for emphasis, most of the young people I know who were pregnant before leaving high school were the ones whose parents did not want them to have school-sponsored sex ed, and wouldn’t talk about it at home. Furry, Chong, & Woolbright need to be gone. I’m glad the School Board is non-partisan because I’m NPA and that is one of the few things I can vote on in the primary.
Mark says
Oh, HELL NO!
Kennan says
Furry, Chong, Woolbright. No surprise they are nothing more than zealot Christian soldiers. These people are fucking crazy.
Standing in the Middle of Palm Coast Parkway says
These folks aren’t zealot Christian soldiers. The current and former board members are opportunists trying desperately to connect with voters in a feeble and last-ditch attempt to remain (or get back onto) the board. They’ll wrap themselves in whatever to get elected or re-elected.
Deborah Coffey says
Very fake “christians” in a religion they made up themselves.
Common sense says
Beliefs and values start at home, not in the classroom. We should be sending our children to school with beliefs and values already established, not expecting them to learn those things from a stranger.
Here we are again. This time, instead of peddling political views, it’s religion.
Another example of an elected representative promoting his personal religious beliefs rather than focusing on the actual education that should be taking place in our schools. This type of “curriculum” (which it really isn’t) belongs in the home, around the dinner table, where parents can have meaningful conversations with their children.
Parents need to start being parents again. Put the phones down, gather around the dinner table, and have these conversations with your children. If we continue outsourcing parenting to our schools, we shouldn’t be surprised when we don’t like the results.
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
If old fat white republican men could get pregnant, abortion would never have been an issue.
YankeeExPat says
Sam;
If fat white republican men could get knocked up, they would be legally able to get abortions at Jiffy Lube along with an oil and filter change……… but wou
ld probably be convinced that they need new wiper blades also!
Moresilliness says
He is just trying to do PR and get his name out there. Most people don’t read articles and he knows it so he says something wild to keep his name top of mind and in discussion.
What I will say about this is: if we can’t talk about the gays, transgender identities, condoms, oral sex, masturbation, that Jesus was probably a commie given his beliefs (eye of camel, first shall be last, etc), the lunacy of free speech being protected while “woke” ideology is stamped out and its parallels to McCarthyism, be able to read “banned” books, discuss colonialism in a truthful way, tell stories of non white contributions to this society and how important they are to the modern freedoms we enjoy, talk about the modern fascist/racist scapegoat connections of current immigration policy and its dark parallels to our racist origin story as a country, ensure schools are safe places to learn and so on….then I don’t want this rightist nonsense being forced down my kid’s throat either. That said if they allow some education back in the process though then sure I’m happy to have such extreme viewpoints discussed as part of a comparative religious studies program where students explore the similarities of the modern right Christian movement of the Deep South to the extreme islamic schools of thought in the Mideast and how those clearly come from the same places of poverty, economic disparities, destruction of educational and democratic norms mixed with strong racially rooted ideology and a complete lack of female thought leadership/ participation.
Mark says
Thank You!
Common Sense says
Moresilliness, whoa… you sound like you’d be a perfect fit for a school board candidate. (I say that sarcastically.) I can picture you now giving this exact tirade at a school board meeting.
We, as parents, are becoming our children’s worst examples as we’ve grown increasingly fractured and ideologically conditioned by one faction or another.
Well rounded children don’t come from schools, they come from well-rounded families with core beliefs and values that aren’t driven by ideology.
Silliness says
The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alteration of old beliefs. -Dewey
Atwp says
Is he a Republican?
FlaglerLive says
He is a Republican.
Laurel says
These people are stealing the Republican Party, and Christianity. This is where the RINO stuff began. They started, early, accusing Republicans of being “RINOs” when the normal Republicans weren’t far right enough. This was a setup.
Since, in my opinion, these far right wackadoos pretend to be Republicans, they should be the “Republicans In Name Only.”
They screamed and cried about “indoctrination” and they are the main force of indoctrination.
Laurel says
These people are stealing the Republican Party, and Christianity. This is where the RINO stuff began. They started, early, accusing Republicans of being “RINOs” when the normal Republicans weren’t far right enough. This was a setup.
Since, in my opinion, these far right wackadoos pretend to be Republicans, they should be the “Republicans In Name Only.”
They screamed and cried about “indoctrination” and they are the main force of indoctrination.
This appears to not be posted, so bare with me if you receive it twice.
Jack Howell says
Wow! Furry is at it again. Looks like he knows he has got to stir up controversy prior to the Primaries! The one point that was made crystal clear is the need for critical thinking! Unfortunately, Furry, Chong, and Woolbright lack this capacity. I think the voters have had enough of these three bobble heads that they won’t be reelected.
Joe D says
As a Master’s prepared Registered Nurse and Clinical Nurse Specialist, I had to sit through videos during my Clinical Rotation in Obstetrics and Gynecology. It included FACTUAL/MEDICALLY GROUNDED films and photos of embryo development from conception ( which is only visible microscopically, and not to the naked eye), to birth.
I have no problem with middle and high school students (as part of a SCIENCE or HEALTH CLASS) being presented ACTUAL embryonic development (not computer aided graphics or AI GENERATED video editing). This proposed educational film is NOT based entirely on MEDICAL FACTS…and should not be presented as such in a public school classroom situation.
Despite the fact that I PERSONALLY do not support abortion except for cases where the health/life of the mother is threatened, I don’t support this particular “Adjusted” version of a medical condition being portrayed as a SCIENCE lesson in a public school classroom.
In my opinion, this is a last minute attempt by Board member Will Fury to get some local notoriety timed right before a local election, he is likely to lose, based on his behavior on the Board during his tenure.
Tired of it says
Flurry is making a last ditch attempt to get noticed Come on Republicans, the children deserve better than this uneducated ,ealot.
Kendall says
Vote this useless piece of garbage out of office.
He worries about the most ridiculous things.
BillC says
There is a point during early embryonic development, called the “phylotypic stage”, when all animals with a backbone (vertebrates) resemble one another. At this stage, a chicken embryo looks almost indistinguishable from a rabbit or a human at a similar stage. Teach science, not religious dogma, especially that silly video which presents little Olivia as an almost formed homunculus at such an early stage.
Laurel says
Actually, we all start out with a tail, and as female.
Science provides interest, intelligence and a road to truth.
Richard Fay says
It may be time to consider the curriculum regarding sexual health within a developmentally sensitive framework. I have no idea about how to deliver this material and it would probably be portable to any homeschool curriculum.
Future of Sex Education Initiative. (2020). National sexuality education
standards : core content and skills, K-12. FoSE Future of Sex Education
Initiative. https://www.futureofsexed.org/sex-ed-standards