Commentary
The movie “
Unplanned” is based on the true story of Abby Johnson, a former clinic director and employee of the year for Planned Parenthood who realized the horrors of abortion and became an advocate for life.
Before I brag on the success of the film, which debuted over the past several weeks across the country, I want to talk about the various hurdles it faced along the way.
First, the movie received an
“R” rating from the Motion Picture Association of America ratings board, despite the fact that the movie didn’t have nudity, violence, or mature language. So, why the rating? The board reportedly had issues with the graphic abortion scene. This is ironic because, in levying this rating, the ratings board is admitting that abortion is a graphic, violent, and disturbing practice.
Another irony tied to the rating is that girls under 18 can’t see a movie about abortion, yet in some states, these same girls can receive an abortion without parental consent. This logic seems to be “too young to view, but not too young to do” when it comes to abortion.
The second hurdle producers of this film faced occurred when television channels such as Hallmark, UpTV, and Lifetime
refused to air spots promoting the film. Why were these advertising avenues closed? Most likely because of the controversial nature of the film, which exposes the truth about abortion. Twitter briefly blocked the film’s page, which prevented producers from sharing about the opening weekend of the film. Twitter eventually backtracked and restored the film’s page.
Lastly, “Unplanned” faced difficulty when filmmakers sought permission to use various well-known soundtracks for the film. Most of these denials were based on the fact that the film exposes the horrors of abortion. For example, producers were
denied the rights to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
The reality is that those who are in favor of the murder of unborn children via abortion can’t handle the truth. Because they can’t handle or don’t want the truth to be exposed, they did all they could to block the success of this film.
Abortion advocates have lobbied at the state level to have laws struck down that require a woman who wants an abortion to have an ultrasound prior to the procedure. This further proves my point that those who are in favor of abortion do their best to squash the truth. Why would they be against ultrasounds prior to an abortion? Because the mother will find out there is a living human being inside her!
The ‘Unplanned’ Ultrasound
To this point, an ultrasound is what caused the lead character in “Unplanned,” Abby Johnson, to change her mind about abortion. During an abortion, Abby saw with her own eyes a baby squirming and flinching as the “doctor” dismembered and eventually killed the baby in the mother’s womb.One of the most egregious facts surrounding this debate is that Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider and Abby Johnson’s former employer, is subsidized by more than
$500 million in taxpayer dollars each year.
Someday, abortion will be viewed historically as a modern-day Holocaust, maybe even worse. Every day, our country is allowing the most vulnerable among us, unborn children, to be torn from their mother’s womb, all in the name of “reproductive choice.”
Back to “Unplanned.”
After all the challenges this truth-telling film faced, you would think it would fail miserably at the box office. The exact opposite is true. “Unplanned” came in at
No. 4 overall during its opening weekend, grossing more than $6 million—twice as much as the industry had predicted. Consequently, the movie expanded to 500 more theaters this past weekend and grossed another
$3.2 million.
Thanks to the people behind this film, the truth about abortion is spreading like wildfire, and nothing can seem to stop it.
Walker Wildmon serves as vice president of operations for the American Family Association,
and is on the board of directors for AFA Action, the 501(c)(4) governmental affairs affiliate of AFA. Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
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