Three years ago, one of the most prolific pro-life movies ever was released in theaters across the country. Today, you can see the movie online. It’s a movie that those of us in the pro-life community knew would change the landscape of the abortion issue, how others would see it and challenge everyone to make a choice. That movie is "Unplanned".
Unplanned is the true story of former Planned Parenthood Clinic Director, Abby Johnson. Abby worked at Planned Parenthood for eight years, until one day, she saw something that changed everything. Up until that life-changing moment, she'd bought a lie. Thirty-one years ago, I purchased one myself.
When I was twenty-one years old, I found myself newly divorced and a single mom to two little girls. Struggling to make ends meet, I had no choice but to work twelve-hour days just to make enough money to pay our bills and put food on the table. Their biological father, my ex-husband, had literally abandoned us. He just "didn't want to be married anymore". This man always had an excuse why he couldn't send child support, so I had no choice but to work as much as I could to take care of these two beautiful little girls on my own.
I can't count the number of days he promised them he would come for a visit. They would pack their little suitcases and wait hours and hours on the porch because "Daddy was coming!" Too many times, I had to plead and beg them to come in and get ready for bed, as the light turned to dark, without any sign of their Daddy. No phone call. No apologies. Nothing. He just left me to pick up the pieces of their broken little hearts.
A part of me died every time I watched their hope fade that "Daddy forgot us again, Mommy". I was lonely. I was broken. I felt helpless.
It came as no surprise when the first guy who showed me attention was able to win my heart. My self-esteem was shot to pieces by then and I longed for a man to prove I was worth his time and effort. I needed reassurances my girls' and I would be important to someone. I was barely a child myself, broken and wounded, doing her best to take care of two more broken and wounded little souls.
This new relationship grew serious quickly and I found myself incredibly attracted to everything about him. I was in love. I knew he was "the one". He told me the same. We were going to be married one day, grow old together. We became sexually active within a few weeks of "falling in love". He loved my girls and we talked about having our own children in the future. He told me he couldn't wait to be a father.
But, when I took a pregnancy test nine months into our relationship, things didn't have the happy ending I'd hoped for.
I knew the outcome of a pregnancy. I already had two children. But when my boyfriend suggested an abortion was best because the timing just wasn't right for us to have a child? Well, he was very convincing. I believed him.
When I called the abortion clinic and shared my story, looking for answers for what to do, the abortion counselor said, "Don't you think it would be very selfish of you as a mother to bring another child in your life when you can barely feed the two you have? Those little girls deserve better than that, right?" She was very convincing. I believed her.
Besides, after all, according to the abortion counselor, I was so early in my pregnancy, there was nothing there. Just a blob of tissue, a clump of cells. The procedure would be nothing more than getting a tooth pulled, a cyst or a benign tumor removed.
So, on a Saturday morning, I drove myself to an abortion clinic in Charlotte, NC to end the growing life of my unborn baby. After it was over, before I'd even walked out of the abortion clinic, I knew I'd just made the greatest mistake of my life and would never be the same. I was right.
It took over a decade for me to finally accept God's forgiveness. It took even longer to forgive myself. God led me to a Pregnancy Resource Center in Concord, NC, where I enrolled in after-abortion trauma recovery to receive the help I needed and to begin my healing process. My life was forever altered by the help they offered me.
Since that time, I've made it my mission to educate men and women about the ramifications of choosing abortion. It's been a calling of sorts to do what I can to fully inform those who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy, making sure they understand abortion doesn't have to be their permanent option to a temporary challenge.
For over two decades, I've spoken to tens of thousands of men and women at conferences, events, and churches across the country, where I've shared my own personal story, a secret I'd hidden for so long, determined my child would not die in vain.
Yet, there've been moments I've felt people still don't really get it. I can't fault them. Unless you've experienced an abortion in your life, it's hard to empathize with those of us who have. Still yet, there've been many caring people I've met throughout my career who've been incredibly kind and sympathize earnestly with the post-abortive man or woman.
I wholeheartedly believe the movie, “Unplanned” has and will continue to bring healing to the millions of men and women who feel betrayed by a multi-billion-dollar abortion industry. Men and women who've buried their abortions deep in their hearts. Thankfully, this movie reminds them they are forgiven and loved deeply by a God who knows no bounds. A God who offers redemption, even after an abortion experience.
Phones continue to ring at Pregnancy Resource Centers across the country as millions of people are searching for help and healing.
Through the telling of this true story, the truth is being revealed to all. A truth that keeps some of us up at night. A truth that causes others to fall on their knees crying out to God for hearts and minds to be opened to this American Holocaust.
For the first time in history, we are closer to seeing Roe v Wade overturned in the very near future, as it’s coming to another vote in June.
But whether laws change or not, once the hearts and minds of millions are transformed, that’s when we’ll see abortion become unthinkable.
I'm not going to lie. This movie is hard to watch, but I can promise you won't be sorry if you’re courageous and brave enough in making the choice to watch it. Whatever side you’re on, don't you owe it to yourself to know what you're standing up for? Be warned. After viewing this film, you won't be able to plead ignorance any longer.
Please, don't hear what I'm not saying. This is not a time for those of us involved in pro-life issues to say, "I told you so". In all actuality, our hearts should break for those who have turned a blind eye to the abortion issue. Because when some of these same people come to the revelation many have had before them, it will be difficult to comprehend and understand. Each one of us deserves the facts and the whole truth about this bill of goods we've been sold for decades.
Today, the safest place for a child should be in his or her mother’s womb, yet today it’s the most dangerous.
With all my heart, I'm convinced God can use this movie, "Unplanned", for "such a time as this".
People who watch this movie will be angry, shocked, heartbroken, and challenged. But, they’ll also be moved to action in one way or another.
We know too much today about what abortion is and what it isn’t. Science has proven life begins at conception, with the creation of a new human being, with its own DNA. The medical community has proven the unborn feel pain in the womb.
A line has been drawn in the sand. There is no more in between. Which side will you choose?