Project Description
Cover Story
Unplanned Film Convicts, Re-Convicts, and Redeems
by Katie Franklin
Pregnancy Help News
Unplanned is not a film to go see lightly. It certainly does not offer a fun cinematic experience, and it’s far from the kind of flick you’d enjoy over popcorn or nachos. But it is an important film, which is made painfully clear in the first seven minutes as Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson (Ashley Bratcher) watches a gruesome first-trimester abortion take place before her very eyes.
The film, which opened in theaters nationwide on March 29, follows Johnson’s rise from clinic volunteer to clinic director, and her eventual pro-life conversion and spiritual redemption.
Based on Johnson’s 2012 memoir, the film’s true-to-life depiction of abortion earned it an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) in Februrary. Since then, many have pointed out the hypocrisy in our culture which allows a teen to have an abortion but prevents her from seeing a film about abortion.
But Johnson and the film’s producers have taken the rating in strides, refusing to cut the graphic scenes and embracing the MPAA’s categorization of the scenes as “violent.”
“We are pushing the boundaries of what has never been before on such a wide scale by showing America exactly what abortion is—and abortion is disturbing. It’s violent,” Johnson said.
Along with the opening scene, the film’s other graphic scene comes when Johnson endures the horror of a chemical abortion in her home bathroom. In an open letter to parents about the film’s rating, Johnson said, “In real life, I hemorrhaged so badly I thought I was going to die,” noting the movie captures her experience “without being gratuitous or gory.”
The depiction of abortion in Unplanned is jarring and raw, and will certainly convict (and re-convict) moviegoers of the evil of abortion.
But it is jarring. And it is raw. And it could very well move countless post-abortive women and women considering abortion into the doors of their nearest pro-life ministry. Not only that, it will hopefully send current abortion workers to Johnson’s own ministry, And Then There Were None, an organization which helps such workers to leave the abortion industry and find healing.
That’s why a screen at the end of the film prompts viewers to text HOPE to 73075 for resources on pregnancy help, abortion healing, and leaving the abortion industry.
In a recent Facebook post, Johnson shared with her followers that even before the film’s release, she’s already receiving contacts from workers seeking assistance:
“In the past four days, I have received three emails from women who previously worked in abortion clinics and are looking for healing resources. In their emails, they all stated that they watched the TRAILER for Unplanned and realized that they needed healing from their past in order to really deepen their relationship with Christ.
“They realized that just from the trailer!! God is about to shake up this country in a powerful way on March 29th!!”
While the film’s depiction of abortion has received the most ink in recent weeks, it’s this redemptive result which we’ll hopefully be seeing more of.
“[Unplanned] is about showing everybody that our pasts are redeemable” Johnson said in early March. “Not even just the issue of abortion, but anything that we’ve been through in our lives, God is ready to redeem that and to really use it for His glory.”
Editor’s note. This appeared at Pregnancy Help News and is reprinted with permission.
It never is.
Consider Abortion Pill Reversal, a safe and effective treatment that hundreds of women have used to stop their in-progress chemical abortions. Over 500 babies have been born thanks to this life-saving choice, but the abortion lobby has smeared it as “junk science.” Imagine that: Yet another option derided and dismissed by the self-proclaimed defenders of women’s choice.
The vilification of Dr. Hamada and other pro-life care providers shows just how extreme abortion advocates have become. They won’t even entertain a medical expert’s well-reasoned opinion if it preserves or honors life in any way.
It’s no wonder that the New York law allows non-physicians to perform abortions. With brave critics like Hamada shredding their horrid justifications for late-term abortions, the abortion lobby needs as many co-conspirators as they can get.
But even as activists hound Hamada, women themselves are speaking up. Countless pictures of courageous mothers and tiny babies have proliferated online as women tell their stories of preterm delivery and harrowing battles with maternal conditions such as cancer. These stories are stories of empowerment. Stories of hope. Stories of compassion for the smallest and weakest among us. And that’s why they’ve been shared tens of thousands of times over the last week.
As states like Rhode Island, Vermont, and New make moves to copy New York’s nightmarish new policy, stories like these and opinions like Hamada’s should remind us all of how terribly regressive this aggressively pro-abortion agenda truly is.
Reprinted with permission from PregnancyHelpNews.com.