'We're Taking on a Monster': New Film Pulls Back the Curtain on America's Ugly Abortion Industry
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- Unplanned takes the audienceinside the abortion industry,
courtesy of Abby Johnson,
once a passionate pro-choice advocate.
As clinic director for Planned Parenthood,
Johnson says she played apart in some 22,000 abortions.
The film depicts heremotional decision to quit
after watching an abortion via ultrasound.
I interviewed Johnson onthe set of the new film.
A movie about your life.
How exciting is that?
- It's very exciting.
It's a little surreal, if I'm honest,
to watch someone play outthe worst version of yourself
in a fllm, but it's alsojust a good reminder
that God can literallyuse anything from our past
and use it for his gloryand use it for his kingdom.
- [Charlene] Johnson's past
included becoming one of theyoungest clinic directors
for Planned Parenthoodand also a spokesperson
for the nation's largestabortion provider.
Actress Ashley Bratcher,
who appeared in other Christian films
such as 90 Minutes in Heaven and War Room,
plays Abby in the film.
- I only got four pages ofthe script in my auditions
and I thought wow, justin this four pages,
there's this reallyinteresting and amazing,
charismatic woman who'shaving this experience
and it's real, it's gritty,but it's compelling.
And I thought man, I needto know who this woman is
and I want to tell her story.
And after I saw Abby's testimony,
I was just in a puddle on the floor.
- [Charlene] When Bratcher's mother
learned of her movie role,
she shared a deep secretwith her daughter.
- She said, "I'm gonna tell you something
"that I haven't told you before,"
and she said to me, "I was in the clinic,
"I had my name called, I went back,
"I was being examined by awoman who was very pregnant,
"and I was on the table
"and that was when I changed my mind."
To hear I was seconds awayfrom just not existing.
And then also, to know that here I am
telling Abby Johnson's story.- Yeah, I was gonna say.
- What?
It's so clear to me and evident
that God's hand at work ispresent on this project.
- [Charlene] Meanwhile,faith based filmmakers
Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon say
they're preparing for the likely backlash
against a film thathighlights the ugly truth
inside the abortion industry.
- We're taking on a monster.
We're taking on a great evil.
We're taking on thedevil's grinder machine.
So when you go up againstthat, he's gonna protect that.
We have no naive thought
that Planned Parenthood won't fight back.
- There's nothing pretty about abortion.
Both sides know that.
Both sides, if they'rehonest, will admit that.
Both sides are dug in pretty tight
as far as whether they thinkit should be acceptable or not.
- [Charlene] Johnson,now a pro-life champion,
says the cast and crew know aspiritual battle lies ahead.
- We pray every day.
We pray against spiritualwarfare in our home,
in our marriage, with our family,
and certainly, withvarious pro-life projects
that I'm a part of andcertainly of this film.
- [Charlene] But Bratcher maintains
this project isn't aboutattacking the other side.
- I think this film is abouthealing, about redemption,
about knowing thatyou've never gone too far
that you can escape the graceof God, that he's so merciful,
and that you can absolutely be forgiven.
- Unplanned is set tobe released next spring.
Charlene Aaron, CBN News.