I had an opportunity to see the movie “Unplanned” this week, and it has given me much food for thought. It’s the true story of Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood employee who was recruited in college and made their “star”—at least for a while. The movie really brought to life the horror of the abortion industry. It was uncanny how little the employees thought about what was going on and how callous they appeared in doing their daily work. I can’t help thinking how complicated Abby’s life must have been during those eight years she worked for Planned Parenthood with all of her family being pro-life and not approving of her career plans. What a conflicted time that must have been, especially as she marched up the ladder from being a volunteer to becoming clinic director. As she rejoiced in her success, each promotion made her family even more saddened by what she was doing.
Yet, she really thought she was helping women and was trying to reduce abortions, even though she was convincing women to have an abortion when they entered the clinic. That denial must have been difficult to cover up and defend. In the movie, the look on her face when she sat in church and the pastor read Psalm 139:13 NIV (“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb”) was very revealing. When you are wrong, it is often difficult to hear Scripture that points it out. For those few seconds as she sat there pondering those words, she clearly wanted to be somewhere else.
I think she knew that the life in the womb was really a child all along—and not a blob of tissue—as she was telling others. When she finally witnessed a surgical abortion and watched the ultrasound as the baby squirmed and tried to move away from the abortion instrument, it was all she could take. To add insult to injury, when she pointed out to the doctor doing the procedure that the baby was moving, he said, “they all do that.” O my goodness, how that spoke volumes. Thinking of the many times she told patients that the baby feels no pain hit her hard, as she helplessly watched how horrible and painful it must be for that baby trying to avoid being torn apart and losing a battle for which he/she had no defense. It was the final straw in the lie she was living and covering up.
When Abby questioned an increase in her abortion quota, when in her mind she was working to reduce abortions, the tables turned quickly. It became crystal clear that the work of Planned Parenthood was not about women’s health but rather it was about making money—and that meant doing as many abortions as possible. She went from being employee of the year to being the number-one enemy of her employer, Planned Parenthood. That amazed me, yet I was not surprised as this organization has demonstrated they have no heart, or they wouldn’t be killing babies as their main business objective. The efforts they put in to hide that fact proves they know what they do is morally wrong, yet socially justified, and they believe the end justifies the means.
The look on the faces of those women and girls who came to the clinic, many of them just teens, was mortifying. It was like they knew they were fulfilling a death sentence and not wanting to do it. But, they didn’t know how to turn back as the pressures were too great. Once they crossed the threshold of the entrance door, there basically was no turning back as the process used in the abortion clinic was swift and decisive. You see, they came there because they believed it was their “reproductive choice,” but a choice is not what they got as they became the pawns of the abortion system.
I also marveled at how God turned something so bad and so evil into something good. Surely it was God making it happen as so many things took place that could have gone very badly for Abby Johnson when she had a change of heart—yet they didn’t. She did struggle emotionally with the fact that 22,000 abortions took place during her watch as clinical director. (It would have been nice to see a scene where she was assured of her forgiveness through the death and resurrection of Jesus who carried those sins for her. Since she is a Christian, I pray that assurance is a part of her life today.)
She is just an ordinary person like any one of us, yet God did use her in a very big way. The work she is doing today in her organization called “And Then There Were None” is helping others get out of the abortion business. Can you imagine that the people working in this business fear for their safety and careers should they choose to leave? I suspect when you are living in lie after lie on a daily basis you have a hard time understanding the truth when it finally hits you. Plus, when your business is built on lies, the greatest fear the employer has is how to silence those who leave from telling the truth about what they witnessed. That apparently is done with more lies and intimidation. Yet, the truth will set you free, which is exactly what Abby Johnson experienced.
This movie is something I didn’t think I would ever see in a movie theater. That in itself was the most amazing part of this. Now, people can see for themselves some truths they might never see elsewhere. The movie is a true story which makes it even more meaningful. I suspect when it was filmed it was extremely important to stick with the facts or the powerful Planned Parenthood would immediately challenge its release. I left hoping that everyone would see this movie before it leaves the theaters. As long as it is a box-office success, it will continue to be shown. Go buy a ticket. It is worth every minute. There are a few scenes that will make you squirm a little but nothing so bad as to warrant the R rating it received. There is no bad language, no sexual scenes, no nudity and the like as an R rating would imply. I understand that because of the graphic nature of a baby depicted dying by abortion in the computer-generated ultrasound the rating was given as that would be deemed violent, which it is. I believe teens need to be accompanied by their parents, which is a good thing. Parents can decide if this is a movie their teenager should see. It is amazing though, a child younger than 17 cannot see this movie without being accompanied by a parent, but in some places, a 16-year-old can get an abortion without a parents’ knowledge or approval. Irony shows up in strange places.
Virginia J. Flo is Regional Director of Minnesota and National Conference Director of Lutherans For Life