Discuss Unplanned

Note: what follows is a general summary of the film, so MANY SPOILERS FOLLOW.

A hard to watch film; this is the first R-rated film from the Christian production company Pure Flix, and after seeing in this movie how abortions are actually performed, it would be difficult to justify anything less than such a rating. It also doesn't hold back in showing the aftereffects of chemical abortions performed at home, with the pill RU-486.

Warning: they are not as simple as take a pill, drink some water and you are done. There are a series of pills one has to take, and it is not uncommon for the actual abortion process to go on for hours and hours, with extreme blood loss and acute pain. The main character, Abby Johnson (played with so much heart by Ashley Bratcher), who has one of these chemical abortions herself, says in a voice-over as she is lying on her bathroom floor which is smeared with blood that she thought she was going to die, and could only wish helplessly that it would not be her mother who would come in and discover her body.

Nevertheless, believing that Planned Parenthood was more about providing contraception and counseling women than about providing abortion, Abby as a new graduate right out of college goes to work for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. She is good at meeting all her numbers and is soon recognized by her supervisor, Cheryl (played with ice-cold calculation by Robia LaMorte). Eventually Abby is promoted to Director of the clinic.

When Abby questions the organization's decision to attempt to double the number of abortions performed by encouraging more women to make that choice, Cheryl-- who has moved higher up in the company by now --explains to Abby that Planned Parenthood does not make money on things such as contraceptives and counseling, just like (according to Cheryl) the fast-food companies do not make money on hamburgers; they make their money on the fries and soda. So she says to Abby:

"Abortion is our fries and soda".

When Abby replies that Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization, Cheryl tells her that is only a tax designation. Later, after directly participating in an abortion and seeing the baby struggle on the ultrasound before it is sucked from the womb, Abby resigns from Planned Parenthood. There is more, but you'll have to watch the film to find out.

The production values on this film were good and this did not come off as some cheap made-for-TV movie; but how the viewer feels about what is portrayed might largely come down to how one feels about the subject of abortion. Because of what is portrayed, this is a rather difficult film to "enjoy"; but, in my opinion at least, it is an important film, one that should be seen. Aside from some of the music that was used, I did not find it sensationalized, and it is even-handed in that it shows the angry, almost violent Christian protesters who hang around some abortion clinics, as well as the quieter, more peaceful Christian groups. I will say that the actor who plays Abby's lawyer Jeff (Kaiser Johnson) did seem impossibly good-looking.

Give this film a try if you are interested in seeing the actual processes of abortion-- both medical and chemical --but be warned, it is not an easy watch.

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