Update on the Baby Olivia Act

By Z. E. Kendall

This is the third year in a row that Kentuckians for Freedom LLC and the other organizations founded by Dr. Frank Simon have supported the Baby Olivia Act.

In 2025, thanks to the work of Dr. Simon’s organizations, Kentucky Right to Life, and the Family Foundation, the Baby Olivia Act got many more cosponsors than it had in 2024. It had the most cosponsors of any legislation in an education committee in the state house that didn’t become law in 2025.

So, a petition and email campaign began across Kentucky to encourage our supporters to show their support for the legislation. As you can see from the table below, about 900 or so of our supporters either emailed or signed that petition in 2025.

Now, this past month, Kentuckians for Freedom LLC mailed over half of our state house members a letter in support of the Baby Olivia Act, now House Bill 359. This includes house leadership as well as everyone who is in the pro-life caucus who had not yet cosponsored the Baby Olivia Act this year at that time. In that letter, we let the legislators know about the petition and which cities many of the signers lived in, without mentioning the people’s names. We still have the names and street addresses in case any legislator wants more information.

As a result of our work and the work of allied organizations, the number of cosponsors this year has already matched the total number of cosponsors from last year, after less than a month into the legislative session.

Nevertheless, as of the start of February, 2026, several people who once were cosponsors have yet to be cosponsors this year, and 35 members of the pro-life caucus have yet to cosponsor the Baby Olivia Act at all. This includes key people in the state house––Majority Leader Steve Rudy, Speaker of the House David Osborne, and Education Committee Chair Scott Lewis.

You can see a list here of who has cosponsored the Baby Olivia Act among the pro-life caucus. Most house education bills get less than 10 cosponsors. So far, 33 members have cosponsored the Baby Olivia Act at least once in the past three years.

Baby Olivia Act Sponsors and Cosponsors List
Legislator Name Yellow highlight on the name means “cosponsor in the past but not yet in 2026.”	2024 House Bill 346	2025 House Bill 397	2026 House Bill 359
Aaron Thompson	No	Yes	Yes
Billy Wesley	No	Yes	Yes
Bobby McCool	No	Yes	Yes
Candy Massaroni	No	Yes	Yes
Chris Freeland	No	No	Yes
Chris Fugate	No	Yes	Yes
Daniel Fister	No	Yes	Yes
David Hale	No	Yes	Yes
Deanna F. Gordon	No	No	Yes
D. J. Johnson	No	Yes	Yes
Emily Calloway	Yes	Yes	Yes
James Tipton	No	Yes	Yes
Jennifer Decker	No	Yes	Yes
Josh Calloway	No	Yes	Yes
Jason Nemes	Yes	Yes	No
John Hodgson	No	Yes	Yes
Kim Banta	No	Yes	Yes
Kim Holloway	No	Yes	Yes
Kim King	No	Yes	Yes
Kim Moser	Yes	No	No
Marianne Proctor	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mark Hart	No	Yes	No
Mary Imes	No	No	Yes
Nancy Tate (sponsor)	Yes	Yes	Yes
Payton Griffee	No	Yes	Yes
Richard White	No	Yes	Yes
Ryan Dotson	No	Yes	Yes
Savannah Maddox	Yes	No	No
Shane Baker	Yes	Yes	Yes
Steve Riley	No	Yes	No
Steven Doan	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thomas Huff	No	Yes	Yes
T. J. Roberts	No	Yes	Yes
Walker Thomas	Yes	Yes	Yes

Here are the self-admitted pro-life people who have not yet cosponsored the bill.

The 35 Pro-Life Caucus Members WhoNever Cosponsored the Baby Olivia Act
Legislator Name	Area Represented	District	Cosponsor
Jared Bauman	Valley Station	28	No
John Blanton	Salyersville	92	No
Adam Bowling	Harlan	97	No
Josh Branscum	Russell Springs	83	No
Josh Bray	Mount Vernon	71	No
Randy Bridges	Paducah & Smithland	3	No
Robert Duvall	Bowling Green	17	No
Daniel Elliott	Danville	54	No
Patrick Flannery	Olive Hill	96	No
Jim Gooch Jr.	Calhoun & Morganfield	12	No
Samara Heavrin	Leitchfield	18	No
Matthew Koch	Paris	72	No
William Lawrence	Maysville	70	No
Chris Lewis	Fairmount & Thixton	29	No
Derek Lewis	London	90	No
Scott Lewis	Lewisport & Hartford	14	No
Matt Lockett	Nicholasville	39	No
Shawn McPherson	Scottsville	22	No
David Meade	Hustonville, Stanford, & Lancaster	80	No
Michael Meredith	Smith’s Grove & Oakland	19	No
Suzanne Miles	Stanley, St. Joseph, & west Owensboro	7	No
Amy Neighbors	Owensboro	21	No
David Osborne	La Grange	59	No
J. T. Payne	Henderson	11	No
Michael Pollock	Campbellsville	51	No
Felicia Rabourn	Campbellsburg, Carrollton, & Bedford	47	No
Rebecca Raymer	Morgantown	15	No
Steven Rudy	Kevil, Clinton, Hickman, & Paducah	1	No
Scott Sharp	Ashland & Louisa	100	No
Tom Smith	Corbin	86	No
Timmy Truett	McKee	89	No
Ken Upchurch	Monticello	52	No
Mitch Whitaker	Whitesburg, Elkhorn, & Fleming/Neon	94	No
Wade Williams	Madisonville	4	No
Nick Wilson	Williamsburg	82	No

If you live in or near a place where a state legislator has not yet cosponsored the Baby Olivia Act, call your state legislator and ask them to cosponsor and vote yes on House Bill 359, the Baby Olivia Act. The legislative message line phone number to call is 1-800-372-7181, which should be open during 1^st shift business hours.

From a pro-life point of view, this legislation should be a lay-up. It should be an easy win. The majority of currently-elected state house members claim to be pro-life. There’s no dispute among the different pro-life perspectives that would spill over to make this bill controversial. The legislation is for educating the next generation of students on the development of a baby in the womb.

The testimony of Roxy Lamorgese at Preborn as well as peer-reviewed studies have shown that some women, once they see an ultrasound of their baby, end up deciding to keep their baby and against getting an abortion. So, by showing middle schoolers and high schoolers the development of a baby in the womb, we will be encouraging a culture of life in the next generation. We will also help visual learners to more easily comprehend human growth and development at its earliest stages in life.

Here are some facts to keep in mind about the Baby Olivia Act:

1. The legislation makes it a standard part of health class or sex ed. class to show a video or ultrasound of a baby in the womb, with the baby’s anatomy being visible

2. The legislation does not require any specific video to be shown but rather, any video or ultrasound display that meets the criteria

3. Parents can opt out their children from seeing the videos and ultrasounds, but most parents are unlikely to opt out their child from seeing a baby in the womb, because:

4. The legislation does not require that any pornographic content be shown but rather, that fetal development be shown as it happens in the womb

While it is true that we don’t want to make regulations too burdensome on our education system, we believe that the Baby Olivia Act is worth passing as a fundamental enhancement to health education.

We encourage the state legislature to pass the bill and make it into a law.