Every day it seems that yet another parents’ group defending children comes to light, whether they are fighting CRT, opposing transgender indoctrination, or attempting to shield kids from pornographic library books. Recently, Education Reporter learned of the Contend Projects, a nonprofit group founded in 2016 to counteract misinformation about when human life begins.

Northern Virginia author, mom, and science buff Brooke Stanton started Contend Projects, along with fellow parent and friend Christiane West. The two define their group as “a secular, nonpartisan, science education nonprofit with the mission to spread accurate information and awareness about the biological science of human embryology and when a human being begins to exist.” Contend’s main goal is to educate people by helping to make “essential scientific facts easily accessible in a simple and positive way, as a matter of basic education and to empower informed decisions.”

In 2020, Stanton and West co-authored a book for children of all ages called When You Became You, which they describe as “a scientifically accurate celebration of human beings.” The book details “one of the most complex and amazing biological phenomena in science” — human development. They explain that they wrote the book because “most people don’t know when a human life starts,” nor do they understand that “a human being is the same human being throughout all stages of [his or her] development.”

When You Became You is a resource that allows parents to teach scientific truth even to young children. An article in Celebrate Life Magazine observed that the book is beautifully illustrated, “inspired by the Carnegie States of Human Embryonic Development and by actual images of preborn human beings at various states.” (The Carnegie Stages can be found by clicking on this link. — Ed.)

While neither woman is a scientist—Stanton graduated from the University of Virginia and holds an MBA in finance from Johns Hopkins University, while West graduated from McGill University and holds an MA in international affairs from Johns Hopkins—both became immersed in the scientific origins of human life when they realized that while people rely on science to guide their actions on many issues, they often fail to do so when it comes to “protecting human lives.”

Celebrate Life reported that a 2008 quote from then-Senator Barack Obama was the catalyst for Stanton and West to deep-dive into the study of embryology. Obama was interviewed at the Saddleback Presidential Candidates Forum by a pastor named Rick Warren, who asked: “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?” Obama responded: “Well, you know, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.”

For five years, Stanton and West studied “human embryonic development and the continuum of human life” under the tutelage of Dr. Dianne Irving, a former career-appointed bench research biochemist and biologist at the National Institutes of Health. According to Celebrate Life, “Irving wrote a doctoral dissertation on human embryo research entitled ‘Philosophical and Scientific Analysis of the Nature of the Early Human Embryo.’”

The women have continued to collaborate with scientists “to ensure that the content produced by Contend Projects is scientifically accurate.” But their experience and study has shown them that “a science background is not necessary to understand their work: ‘Children can learn when a human being begins to exist. You don’t need to be an embryologist to know about the start of our species!’”

The Contend Projects website points out that inaccurate information about the science of human sexual reproduction and embryology “is widespread, and has contaminated public opinion and perception,” with nearly half of all young men and women unable to answer the question: “When does a human life begin?” They cite recent polls showing that 22 percent of 18-29-year-olds believe human life begins at birth, and 17 percent aren’t sure. Yet, say Stanton and West, “decisions about sexual reproduction are serious and have serious consequences,” including decisions made about abortion that are based on “misconceptions and misinformation.”

Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision striking down Roe v. Wade, Stanton penned an op-ed that appeared on Fox News.com. She wrote that “acknowledging the humanity of the unborn is a prerequisite to perceiving the inequities and injustices against them, as well as how these disparities directly set the stage for and advance discrimination during subsequent stages of human development.... Roe anchors and energizes the lie that human development is arbitrary and subjective, that a human embryo or a human fetus is not an ‘individual’ human being.”

While scientists are aware of the real facts, they have been politicized, and all that matters is the manufactured “right to privacy,” even in the post-Roe era. Real science on this topic remains “off limits,” but Content Projects aims to change that by bringing scientific facts into the public square. In addition to their book, the group’s website offers a number of resources, including a Science Quiz that visitors can take to assess their knowledge, and two downloadable Science Guides containing solid information.

Parents battle schools in North Dakota

On the other side of the country, North Dakota mom Cassie Schmidt and her Facebook group Let Parents Decide That are throwing down the gauntlet to public schools in Fargo. Schmidt’s group is locked in a battle with the Fargo school district, which has openly vowed to defy the state’s new law barring them from hiding students’ gender identities from parents.

Signed by Republican Governor Doug Burgum on May 8, HB1522 explicitly prohibits public school boards, districts, and teachers from creating plans or adopting policies concerning “a particular student’s transgender status” or to “conceal information about a student’s transgender status” without first informing parents or obtaining parental approval.

Fargo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rupak Gandhi defiantly told Fox News: “We will not openly out any student because of one law if we know that that's going to cause harm to that child.” He added that the district “should continue to advocate for students who identify as transgender.”

For Schmidt, this is the crux of the matter; that schools believe they have a right to take the place of parents, and that school boards and officials know better than parents. She spoke at a recent school board meeting, asking rhetorically, "Whose kids are these? Do they belong to you as a school board? Do they belong to Fargo Public Schools or is each parent's child ultimately the decision-maker in their family over what is allowed and what is safe for that child?”

Another parent, concerned dad Brad Shaffer, also spoke at the school board meeting. He later told Fox & Friends First TV viewers that the school district “sends kids a bad message that some laws are made to be broken.... It’s ludicrous to think they know our children better than we do.”

As for Cassie Schmidt, who founded her Facebook group in 2021 in response to the mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic and which now includes more than 2,100 members, she will continue “to strive for the overall wellbeing of children while offering a voice to parents who feel they have none.”

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