The director of the forthcoming movie “Unplanned” says the pro-life film was made “for such a time as this,” as several states are advancing radical abortion laws.
Last month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed into law a bill legalizing abortion “at any time when necessary to protect a woman’s life or health.” Lawmakers in Virginia, Rhode Island and Vermont are promoting similar bills.
“We couldn’t have foreseen the rapid developments that are suddenly coming to a head,” director Chuck Konzelman told Faithwire, “but we serve a God who could, and did.”
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Konzelman went on to say the movie, premiering March 29, should “serve as a wakeup call to the church of believers in Christ.”
“If believers can have their consciences awakened — if they can collectively decide ‘abortion is wrong’ and act upon that decision — then abortion in this country will end,” he added.
The $6 million project, filmed secretly in Oklahoma, chronicles the experiences of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director who left the organization after watching an abortion via ultrasound. She immediately recognized what she thought she was fighting for — women’s rights — was not at all reality.
After taking part in some 22,000 abortions and counseling a great number of women through the termination process, Johnson walked away from the nation’s largest abortion provider and linked up with her former adversaries in the pro-life cause.
Konzelman, who also co-produced “God’s Not Dead,” said the reaction to the movie “has been truly amazing.”
While the film has received accolades from both Protestant and Catholic leaders, the “Unplanned” director said “the most telling” reaction came from a nurse who worked for infamous abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted in May 2013 of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants and is serving a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“She watched the film, and afterwards, she said, ‘All I saw on that screen was love,’” Konzelman recalled. “That’s a pretty amazing statement, given where she’s coming from. And it reflects the fact that the film doesn’t demonize the people who work in the abortion field.”
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He even described the movie a “love letter of sorts” to those who have, like Johnson, worked in the abortion industry. Konzelman even said he hopes the film strikes a graceful note with those who have their own intimate experiences with abortion.
To moviegoers who have “unresolved abortions in their past,” Konzelman said he hopes the upcoming film will “help steer them through recognizing that abortion is, and will forever be, wrong. But instead of remaining stuck in grief or shame, they should ask God’s forgiveness, then accept that forgiveness.”
“Let’s face it,” he explained, “by Abby Johnson’s own admission, she was complicit in 22,000 abortions, including two of her own. Few, if any, of our audience members will be bearing that burden of guilt. But if Abby can be forgiven, then why not them, too?”
The Pure Flix movie hits theaters across the U.S. on Friday, March 29. To learn more about the pro-life film, click here.