Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on media reaction to the movie “Unplanned”:
“Unplanned” is a movie that chronicles the workplace experience of Abby Johnson; she was employed by a Planned Parenthood clinic. One day, after spending eight years on the job, she was asked, as the clinic director, to assist a doctor to perform an abortion by holding the ultrasound probe. That changed her life. She quit.
We could find only one newspaper in the entire United States, the Washington Post, that reviewed the movie; the review was mixed.
One person who saw the film and liked it is Kansas City, Kansas Archbishop Joseph Naumann. As the chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, he has emerged as the nation’s leading Catholic voice on life issues. He offered some insights in today’s Wall Street Journal.
“‘Unplanned’ got its R rating for ‘violence.’ It is noteworthy for Hollywood to acknowledge that abortion is violent, but the on-screen violence in ‘Unplanned’ isn’t gratuitous; it’s medically accurate.” In a recent interview, Naumann wryly observed, “the great irony is that a 15-year-old girl can’t go to this movie, but she could have an abortion and her parents will never know it.”
Variety was one of the few media outlets to review “Unplanned.” It said it “isn’t a good movie, but it’s effective propaganda.” The film does a “skillful job of using religious piety to conceal its underlying political agenda.” The agenda, of course, is to combat the pro-abortion agenda by telling the truth.
The Guardian, a British outlet, took note of Abby’s ultrasound experience. “A fetus presents what could be misinterpreted as fear or pain during the procedure.” The verb is revealing. How could anyone interpret what happened to the baby any differently?
Here is an excerpt from the movie. “It [the baby] just moved away from the catheter [that was placed in the girl’s cervix in preparation for a suction D&C abortion],” said Abby. The abortionist had a ready answer: “They always move. That’s why I do it this way!”
“They always move.” They sure do. That’s what happens when human beings are pierced—they flinch.
Abortion unnerves everyone, on all sides of this issue. Those who are honest and admit that abortion kills an innocent human being are unnerved for obvious reasons. But what about those who are pro-abortion? Why are they unnerved? Why are they so unnerved that they refuse to review this movie and don’t want anyone to know about it?
Hillary Clinton once said she wanted abortion to be “safe, legal, and rare.” She never explained why it should be rare.
