“A person’s a person, no matter how small,” is a line from Dr. Seuss’ 1954 classic, Horton Hears a Who! In today’s culture it would likely be a disputed talking point on cable news networks. The issue of abortion is back in the spotlight of our national discussion. It has been for a while, really. The fight over the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh threw gasoline on fires that perpetually burn in our culture and the incredible success of Pure Flix movie “Unplanned “has rekindled that debate.
The pro-life movie "Unplanned" finished in the top 10 at the box office for the second weekend in a row and it has caused a stir on both sides of the abortion debate.
Pure Flix CEO Michael Scott said of his movie’s box office numbers, “This film has been an
overwhelming success. The amazing work of the filmmakers, actors and team behind bringing Abby
Johnson’s story to audiences is helping to raise awareness to national and regional pro-life movements around the country.”
Planned Parenthood, which performs over 300,000 abortions a year, had a different response.
Planned Parenthood officials claim that the movie promotes "falsehoods…distortions and incorrect
depictions about healthcare."
I, like many others across the country, saw “Unplanned” last weekend. I left the theater convinced that this movie can have a huge impact on the national discussion and perhaps even on the election of 2020.
This movie pulls back the curtain and demonstrates, in a powerful and poignant way, what abortion is. Abby Johnson, the protagonist of the movie and a former Planned Parenthood employee, witnesses a sonogram of a 13-week-old fetus being aborted. Movie goers get to see what she sees. It is an agonizing and brutal depiction. One so charged that abortion supporters have tried to counter it by saying Johnson is lying and it never happened. In an April 8, 2019 article in National Review, Abby Johnson vociferously challenges Planned Parenthood and her accusers.
She writes, “If Planned Parenthood actually had proof that this abortion I witnessed never took place, they would have brought it up when they took me to court. They would have already presented this evidence to the public and most certainly have taken further legal action. But they haven’t, because they know they can’t. They can’t because my story is the truth.”
While what goes on in an abortion is known, the gruesome ugliness of it is clearly depicted. It will be harder for those who favor abortion to describe it in sterile, safe terms.
“Unplanned” also reveals the dark secrets of Planned Parenthood. Again, much of this isn’t new. The Center for Medical Progress produced a series of videos in 2016 documenting Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby body parts. Those videos are still on the Center’s website.
It wasn’t surprising that, when those videos came to light, Planned Parenthood hired Fusion GPS, you recognize that name, right? They’re the folks who came up with the Steele dossier to smear President Trump. According to The Washington Times, in a report from November 2, 2017, “David Daleiden, lead investigator at the Center for Medical Progress, denounced the Fusion GPS report when it was released Aug. 27, pointing out that the firm is not qualified to conduct a forensic analysis.”
What “Unplanned” does is to remind people of how awful Planned Parenthood, a sacred cow of the
Left, really is. PolitiFact Wisconsin reported on May 15, 2017 that “Planned Parenthood is the largest single provider of abortion care in the United States.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) demonstrated her support for Planned Parenthood by walking onto
the stage at Al Sharpton’s “We the People” summit wearing a “Planned Parenthood pink” jacket. Sen. Klobuchar loves Planned Parenthood to the tune of $17,7000, the top recipient of Planned Parenthood affiliates’ giving in 2018.
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) have pledged to protect Planned Parenthood. Sen. Harris, back in 2016, joined forces with Planned Parenthood in crafting legislation (AB 1671) to target pro-life activist David Daleiden after he exposed the abortion giant for selling fetal body parts. Sen. Gillibrand tweeted in April of 2017, “If Planned Parenthood can keep fighting for as long as they have, so can we.”
Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) both have a 100% rating with Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund.
It’s important to know that, as these Democrats talk about children at the border and immigration, they care not one bit for the least of these: children in the womb.
As I watched it, “Unplanned” depicted the awful price abortion exacts from women. The movie
carefully shows young women coming into the Planned Parenthood clinic in desperation. It is a gut-wrenching reminder of how they need compassion and help. It also shows many of them after their abortions and it doesn’t hide what the unnatural practice of removing life where it was intended to grow and develop from a woman’s body does to her.
After watching the movie and thinking about it, I believe no pro-life person should have anything but compassion for those considering abortion. “Unplanned” has powerfully reminded us of that and helped demonstrate the depth of the Pro-life movement. It is about more than just preventing abortions.
John Fund, in National Review, on April 7, 2019, writes, “Perhaps the biggest contribution that
Unplanned can make to the abortion debate is to showcase the fact that a growing number of pro-life groups want to do more for women with unplanned pregnancies than just get them to carry the babies to term.”
It’s also important that when the Democrat presidential hopefuls talk about wanting what’s best for women, their support of Planned Parenthood and its affinity for abortion undercuts their lofty words.
Remember as we vote, “A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
