My wife and I recently watched the movie Unplanned, based on the book by the same title by Abby Johnson. When it was released in 2019 many Christians went to see it in theaters and it created a great deal of buzz with rumors of Twitter censorship and pro-abortion media bias. We did not go see the movie, and frankly had no interest in watching it.
Both of us had read Johnson’s book in which she tells her story of becoming the youngest clinic director in the history of Planned Parenthood only to be won over by the gentle kindness of members of the pro-life Coalition for Life. After observing an ultrasound abortion in which the baby tried vainly to escape death at the hands of a doctor using vacuum extraction, Johnson came to see abortion as immoral and left her career at Planned Parenthood, becoming a pro-life advocate.
Our disinterest in the movie stemmed mostly from the fact that we found the book decent overall, but not without its problems. Additionally, the push to make movies for evangelical audiences as a way of proving to Hollywood that there is a market for decent, faith-based films doesn’t really interest us. We watch movies to be entertained, not to make a political or social statement.
Why, then, did we watch the movie last week? Because we received the DVD in a box of materials for teens from Wisconsin Right to Life, and we wanted to see if it would be beneficial for our own kids to watch. While there is nothing particularly objectionable in the movie itself, it does carry an R-rating because of the graphic depictions of a couple of abortions.
Without having read interviews of anyone involved in making the film, I might be wrong about their motivation, but it seems to me that they showed these graphic scenes in order to bring the awfulness of abortion to the viewing public. There definitely is some shock value in these bloody images, which may disturb some viewers. Ironically, it is this very shock value which, in my opinion, is one of the key problems with this film.
When Abby Johnson first went to the Planned Parenthood clinic as a volunteer, she saw pro-life protesters standing outside the fence. Over time, she began to recognize two distinct groups of protesters. The one group carried signs with slogans like, “Abortion is murder!” and gruesome images of aborted babies. They angrily confronted both the clinic workers and the women who were coming to get abortions. There was even a man dressed up as the grim reaper, complete with a blood-stained sickle!
The other group of protesters was affiliated with the Coalition for Life, a faith-based organization in Bryan, Texas, formed in response to the building of the Planned Parenthood clinic there in 1998. These “sidewalk counselors” would stand outside the fence praying for an end to abortion and attempting to offer women information about the choice of life rather than death for their baby. They also organized the first 40 Days for Life prayer campaign, which has now become a worldwide phenomenon, organizing 40 day prayer vigils in over 60 nations around the world.
What is ironic is that the Coalition for Life’s approach was intentionally different from those who were combating, employing graphic images and harsh slogans. It seems to me that the movie itself, by including both the ultrasound abortion and a very graphic scene in which Abby experiences the effects of her own abortion by means of the RU-486 pill, goes for shock value rather than prayerful advocacy. If these scenes were shot differently, the same story could have been conveyed without resorting to horror movie level gore. This would have been much more consistent with the movie’s message that gentle opposition to abortion is more effective than hostility and anger.
The second primary objection that I had toward the movie was in the message it shared concerning the matter of sin and forgiveness. When Johnson asks her husband about how she could be forgiven for being complicit in over 22,000 abortions during her time as an employee of Planned Parenthood, he replied by saying, “God will forgive you, because he’s God.” This is a monstrous lie.
Were God to simply forgive our sins, “because he’s God,” his basis for judgment would be completely eroded. It would be like a judge declaring a murderer not guilty, just because he’s the judge, and he can do whatever he wants. The Bible makes it very clear that God’s judgment is not arbitrary, based on a capricious whim, rather it is according to his perfect, unchanging nature. He can no more forgive us, “just because,” than he can deny himself, tell a lie, or fail to accomplish something he chooses to do.
It is false and dangerous to suggest that God forgives just because he’s God, thus implying that he can and will forgive everyone without exception. If this were true, then we should all become universalists and believe that every person will eventually end up in heaven, because God is God, and he is love.
On what basis, then, does God forgive sins? And what answer should have been given in Unplanned? The apostle Paul answers this question in Romans 3:22b-26, “For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Notice how this paragraph concludes. God’s purpose is to be both “just” and the “justifier” of all who believe on Jesus. He has to maintain his own righteousness, being a just judge, but he also desires to justify people who have all sinned and come short of God’s glory. How can God be both at the same time? If he justifies sinners, he becomes unjust, and if he is to remain a just judge, he must condemn sinners every time without fail.
The simple answer is, “Jesus.” He has been set forth as a satisfactory payment for our sins, to redeem all those who receive him by faith. God is able, because of the sacrifice of Christ, to justify sinners and maintain his own righteousness. The right answer to her question, then, is “God will forgive you, because Jesus died for you. Do you believe this?” Indeed, do YOU believe this?