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Unplanned Trip to the Movies
Last week between track practice, drama club, and our own schedules my wife and I found ourselves with a few free hours with no kids. I had read some articles about the movie Unplanned and thought maybe I could use a little more education about Planned Parenthood and the abortion issue so we went to the movies.
Unplanned is the true life story of Abby Johnson, a director of a Planned Parenthood clinic who went on to become a pro-life activist. Being a “Pro-life” or “Anti-Choice” film means some people won’t even give it a chance. Looking at the Rotten Tomato scores you can tell this is controversial. The critics, who tend to be left-leaning, gave it a 50 and the viewers gave it a 93. Both of those scores are skewed by politics. I have no doubt that if this was the story of a pro-life woman who went on to become a Planned Parenthood director that the critic score would be about 15 points higher. If it was about a pro-life man who became a female director of her local Planned Parenthood clinic that score would be 30 points higher.
This is a lower budget film. Up until the brief cameo by the My Pillow guy at the end, I didn’t really recognize any of the actors. That said, I was never bored and the film did have some heavy parts that played on my emotions. We bought some snacks and before going to the theater and during the Coming Attractions my wife said, “You better eat that now.” Good advice because there were some unpleasant scenes that felt like a blow to the gut.
As the critics point out, this is a pro-life film. If you imagine a propaganda piece you would expect the pro-lifers to all be saints and pro-choice people to be outright demons. But this is based on a true story and Abby Johnson lived on both sides of that fence (and in the film the fence is a literal one). Abby wasn’t just a Planned Parenthood director, she was also a customer. Some of the pro-lifers in the movie are saintly prayer warriors who seem to genuinely care for, not just the babies, but the mothers and the clinic workers. Other pro-lifers are shown approaching scared young women and calling them baby-killers and sluts as if that will win them over to their side. I have seen both types of pro-lifers in real life. The patients going to the clinic are mostly scared and confused, although some seem confident in their decisions. The Planned Parenthood workers show a callousness towards abortion (which I assume you would have to have) but honestly believe they are doing important work. The one obvious exception is Abby’s boss who is portrayed as just an over the top villain. Imagine how a traditional Hollywood movie might portray a tobacco or oil executive, and that is comparable to the Planned Parenthood boss in this movie. Sort of a female Dick Cheney.
The turning point for Abby Johnson was watching the ultrasound images of an abortion. There she saw the baby moving away from the probe and instinctually fighting for its life. Planned Parenthood denies that any abortions were performed that day. Whether or not that is true, there is no denying that what Abby described does happen. Babies in the womb will try to move away from the probes. The same nervous system that allows them to move also allows them to feel pain. Some deny that but I am not sure what their point is. “We want to kill it but we don’t want to hurt it”?
The thing that stood out most for me is the realization that the abortion industry is very much a business. Coming from an accounting background the line, “Non-profit is a tax status, not a business model” struck me as completely believable. Counselors may not be salesmen in the traditional sense, but they do have a product that they are offering. In the movie, they even gave discounts if you decided to move ahead with the abortion right there and now. Kind of like a car salesman saying, “What do I have to do to get you to drive this baby home tonight?” Of course, in this case, it would be driving home without the baby. Planned Parenthood claims that abortion represents only 3% of the services they provide. Notice they don’t say 3% of their patients or 3% of their revenue. Bottom line, abortion is why Planned Parenthood exists.
Anyway, I didn’t plan on going to the movies the other day, but I am glad I did. I wouldn’t call it a fun movie but it brings up the issue many would rather not think about.
Published in General
Thanks, Vance. I was just thinking about my decisions to see movies that I know will be ugly, painful and difficult to watch. War movies, holocaust movies, and violent movies in general are in those categories. I’ve seen Schindler’s List more than once, and the pain in watching it stays with me each time. Since I know basically what these stories will tell me, why do I watch them? I’ve read books and articles that describe them, and yet I feel called to view and listen to them.
I think the reason lies with the different types of “knowing” that we acquire. I guess I could categorize them as intellectual/philosophical, artistic (photos, movies) and direct experience/being there. In most cases, we rarely have direct experience (unless we are soldiers or work in abortion centers). We can say we know a lot about these situations because we can study them. But we can choose to “experience” them to acquire a different kind of knowing. When our experience goes beyond the intellectual, where we can distance ourselves emotionally, we can identify with the truth of the situation in a visceral, spiritual and emotional way. And the knowing that comes when more of our senses are engaged (through sound and pictures), has an integrity and truth that just reading about it does not provide. I think that’s why I go to movies (or now, watch them at home). Some things are worth knowing as intimately as I can.
Thanks for helping me think this through!
Abby Johnson is one sharp cookie. If you haven’t seen her testimony on behalf of heartbeat legislation, have a look. Most impressive.
I like your phrase “different types of knowing.” I think storytelling, done well, can take an issue you think you know alot about and make it more relatable, more (for lack of a better word) human. We may know the facts of an issue through study, but personal testimonies help us see the impact.
I like how she points out that only women can get pregnant. That was pretty much common knowledge from the beginning of time until a few months ago but it is nice to see that not everyone is playing along when people start talking about a “pregnant man.”
I’m terrified of that movie. I know where I stand on abortion. I’m pretty sure I know how an abortion is performed and I really don’t want to have a visual to go with it. I am very happy the movie is a success.
That a society kills its own children is absolutely appalling.
Wow. She certainly was, WC. Very powerful. Now I know that I must see the movie, too.
Maybe it is just because I am in my 50’s now, but the girls portraying the patients seemed so young to me. That is probably accurate though as I would think women in their teens and early 20’s make up a large percentage of Planned Parenthood’s patients.
While I think this a movie that should be seen, it’s a hard movie to watch, especially certain scenes.
I will say this as someone who’s an advocate for faith-based films, those scenes are brutal. We attended the premiere and worked the red carpet. My sunny disposition interviewing the cast, crew, and luminaries quickly turned into horror the first fifteen minutes after the film began. Some friends left the theater. One of the organizers told me 2 women vomited in the lobby. Yes… in the lobby.
There was an after-party which I seriously didn’t want to attend as when the movie concluded I just wanted to go home and gather my thoughts. I’m thankful I went (or was dragged) to the party as it broke the melancholy, but still needed to process and it took 3 days to shake it.
I am not saying this to dissuade anyone from seeing Unplanned as I hope it continues doing well at the box office. But just know it may be the most graphic movie about this subject ever filmed. Graphic, yet extremely well done and effective.
Which is why I was glad I took my wife’s advice and ate that cookie I bought from Panera before the movie started, rather than waiting.
When I heard it got an R rating I thought that was odd since a 16 year old can get an abortion but can’t see a movie about abortion. After seeing it I can understand the rating, but if a teen is sexually active this might be a worthwhile reality check.
The Unplanned movie was great. It was well told and well acted and it showed the true horror of abortion. I sympathize since as a pro-life activist I had my own run ins with Planned Parenthood.
Two deviations from the book were interesting.
Abby’s mentor the Clinic director was more sympathetic in the book then in the movie but she was a composite character in the movie. Some person had to stand in for the organizations evil and that fell to her character. Abby liked her at the beginning of the film there had to be a reason for that.
The need of the movie to personified the evil of abortion was real however and they chose the right character for it.
Also in the book Abby writes about how the Pro-life group suspected that her conversion was a trap and they had multiple witnesses of her time there in case Abby was playing a trick on them. Which is a real thing. Planned Parenthood lays traps for Pro-life people all the time. They didn’t really pay that up in the movie like I thought they would.
In the end this is one of the best movies about abortion ever made. There was nuance but it focused on the truth of the evil being committed and the callousness that killing people for a living causes even for people who believe they are doing the right thing.
Abby Johnson is cool. ‘Nuff said.
As for Rotten Tomatoes, now that they’ve shut down comments you have to use Dissenter. Top comments, edited for CoC compliance:
Truly. She has a lot of guts. I liked the way she opened her statement: Even if the bill contained protections for those who were victims of sexual assault, the ACLU and Planned Parenthood would oppose it anyway.
We can’t even get them to agree that killing an infant outside the womb is wrong, so I don’t think exemptions for rape and incest are the issue.
A good talk by Abby Johnson. Not just talk, she walks the walk.