Probably not, but it should be. If you’re not familiar with the novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriett Beecher Stowe (1811-1896), it was published in 1852 to communicate to the American people the evils of slavery. Many people who were not involved in slavery, especially in the north, often had no idea how brutally slaves were treated by their masters. One overview of the book says:
Stowe’s vivid characters and portrayal of their struggles opened reader’s eyes to the realities of slavery and the humanity of enslaved people. Stowe hoped the novel would build empathy for the characters and, in turn, for enslaved individuals.
After seeing Unplanned, there is no doubt that anyone with an open mind and a shred of humanity would be cut to the quick over the realities of abortion, and the humanity of the babies who lives are unceremoniously, coldly, snuffed out.
Reality is something people who think abortion is about a “woman’s right to choose,” choose to ignore. In case you’re not familiar with the story, Abby Johnson was the director of a Planned Parenthood facility in Bryan, Texas, north of Houston. In fact, in 2008 she was named the Planned Parenthood employee of the year. A year later she witnessed something that rocked her to her core: reality. From Wikipedia:
Johnson says that in September 2009, she was called in to assist in an ultrasound-guided abortion at 13 weeks gestation. She said she was disconcerted to see how similar the ultrasound image looked to her own daughter’s. Johnson, who previously believed fetuses could not feel anything while being aborted, says she saw the fetus squirming and twisting to avoid the vacuum tube used for the abortion.
“For the briefest moment,” she wrote in her memoir, Unplanned, “the baby looked as if it were being wrung like a dishcloth, twirled and squeezed. And then it crumpled and began disappearing into the cannula before my eyes. The last thing I saw was the tiny, perfectly formed backbone sucked into the tube, and then it was gone.”
You see the look on the face of the actress in the movie playing Abby, Ashley Bratcher? This is the beginning of reality dawning on her that abortion is the killing of a human being (someone who is politically incorrect would call it murder). The scene is powerful, and very difficult to watch. As tears welled up in her eyes, they welled up in mine, and no doubt any person in the theater who knows reality when they see it. Abortion is wrong, and deeply evil. Abby points out in the movie that while all the women who come into the clinic (many not more than girls) get an ultrasound, they are not allowed to see it. The reason is obvious: Planned Parenthood knows when the woman sees an actual baby in their womb, they will be far less likely to follow-through with ending its life. More reality: You know why an ultrasound is required? So they know the size of the head and the appropriate tube can be used when it’s sucked out of its mothers womb. Makes me want to cry just writing that.
Back to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It was hugely popular in the 1850s, and may not have caused the civil war, but it made the evil of slavery difficult to ignore, and the owning and abuse of other human beings unacceptable to most Americans in the north. I’ve read the book a couple times, and it made me cry too, especially a scene near the end when Uncle Tom is being beaten to death by his master, and he’s praising Jesus! I was surprised to find it was a deeply Christian book, but that’s why it resonated with a people in a culture that was deeply Christian and became a cultural phenomenon, and why Unplanned can’t play the same roll in our day for abortion. Our culture is as deeply secular as 1850s America was Christian. But make no mistake, Unplanned is a game-changer. How much so remains to be seen.
The reason I think we may be pleasantly surprised given the secular cultural headwinds, is that the moment we’ve come to where such a movie could be made in America has been animated by prayer, rather than rabid anti-abortion activism. The contrast is portrayed early in the movie when rude anti-abortion protesters are seen side-by-side with the prayer warriors of 40 Days for Life. I imagine the former think human beings have the power to thwart evil, while the latter know without God the battle is in vain. There is hope for victory over abortion because we understand what Solomon says in Psalm 127:1 is the truth:
Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
Go see the movie. Your support is critical for what could be a critical cultural moment for the triumph of good over evil.
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