Unplanned is a 2019 Pure Flix movie adapted from the memoir of the same name. It is based on the true story of Abby Johnson's life as a clinic director for Planned Parenthood and her subsequent transition to anti-abortion activism. As such, the movie is advertised as an anti-abortion film with a plea to end abortion as well as showing what actually happens inside Planned Parenthood and how their philosophy of "safe, legal, and rare" has turned to the organization aiming to increase the number of abortions for profit reasons.
That particular facet of the story, among others, has been questioned multiple times by doctors, pro-choice advocates, and Planned Parenthood themselves (who are namedropped in the movie several times despite their non-involvement).
Provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: "Evil" might be too strong a word, but the employees at Planned Parenthood (Abby included, and with the exception of Cheryl) are shown to be just regular people doing their job and practicing what they believe in. When Abby is discovered to be pregnant, they surprise her with a baby shower after work. Needless to say, the irony is not lost on Abby for celebrating her pregnancy in an abortion clinic, of all places.
- Anti-Hero: From a Christian perspective, at least. Abby, before seeing the light, is ultimately perceived as a sympathetic character even though her loved ones are not on board with her profession, especially her husband. Her reason for sticking with Planned Parenthood for so long was because she believed in the health and reproductive rights of women. Her beliefs start to be challenged when Cheryl, out of the blue, announces for the directors to double the number of abortions in their clinics as well as allowing procedures up to the third trimester. Inducing abortion on a 24-week-old fetus had always been a line that Abby would not cross, but witnessing a 13-week-old baby's demise via suction abortion with the assistance of an ultrasound monitor was the straw that broke the camel's back.
- Artistic License – Biology: A fetus at the stage shown in the film is not capable of moving on its own, much less perceiving any sort of “danger” and moving away from it.
- Artistic License – Medicine: Abortion clinics such as Planned Parenthood are not run for-profit. Could also qualify as Artistic License – Economics.
- Author Tract: The film has received criticism for this, describing it as political propaganda, though it's not as extreme as God's Not Dead.
- Avoid the Dreaded G Rating: Inverted. The producers aimed for a PG-13 rating, ensuring an audience of teenagers and up - an appropriate enough age range to discuss the topic of abortion with. Instead, the film got an R rating, which annoyed the producers because it made the film seem less accessible. There are even open letters encouraging families to see the movie, regardless of the rating.
- Based on a True Story: The premise of the story is based in truth: Abby Johnson is a real person who worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic and supported abortion, then quit her job and joined the anti-abortion group Coalition for Life. She claimed this was due to her witnessing the abortion of a 13-week-old fetus, which she said appeared to fight for its life, as well as the clinic increasing the number of abortions performed. However, the factual details get murkier from there. The veracity of Johnson's account has been disputed and questioned by several sources (not just by Planned Parenthood, but also by outside investigators) as medical records contradict some of her claims. It's also noted that shortly prior to Johnson leaving Planned Parenthood, she'd been facing problems at work and had made a social media post expressing frustration over her employers criticising her job performance, which suggest there other factors besides moral opposition to abortion that led to Johnson quitting (which the film doesn't mention). Planned Parenthood also stated that while the clinic Johnson worked at did see an increase in abortion procedures around the time she quit, this was due to more patients requesting the procedure rather than driven by the clinic. Johnson has gone on record claiming that Planned Parenthood likely doctored their records to invalidate her claims and that she would have nothing to gain from perpetuating such an elaborate lie.
- Bitch Alert: During one scene, Cheryl dissolves a workplace chatter just from her presence alone and sends most of her staff running off, all but implying she's not a very pleasant woman to be with.
- Black Comedy: It's questionable whether it's supposed to be funny, but the nonchalant way Cheryl says to Abby, who just had a positive pregnancy test, that they could "take care of that (pregnancy) for [her]" comes off as a little humorous in a twisted sort of way.
- Clueless Aesop: The film portrays abortion as being bad because the clinics that provide them put profits over people, which is more an argument for healthcare reform than against abortion itself. It also takes the stance of abortion being murder yet Abby is Easily Forgiven for performing them and the movie portrays her former career as a mistake she learned from rather than a serious crime.
- Close on Title: The film's title doesn't appear until the end.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Cheryl, going so far as to compare abortions to fast food products, of all things. Hence her proposal to increase their clinics to offer them.
- Darker and Edgier: The graphic abortion-related scenes earned the film an R rating, much to the chagrin of the producers (who were simply aiming for a PG-13). It's for this reason that this movie is the most intense when compared to Pure Flix's usual fare.
- Easy Evangelism: Averted. The Coalition for Life coaxes Abby into leaving the abortion industry, but it takes eight years and after a series of events that make her question the morality of her job.
- The Film of the Book: Based on Abby Johnson's memoir of the same name.
- Foregone Conclusion: The movie hinges on unraveling how the events in Abby's life played out with the audience already knowing that Abby will leave the abortion industry eventually.
- Gorn: In an unusual move for a Christian film, they do not skimp on the more visceral features of abortion. Unlike most examples, the gore shown in the film serves a specific purpose.
- For example, the effects of Abby taking an abortion pill cause her intense cramps and bleeding to the point that black gunk (blood clots) starts gushing out of her crotch in huge chunks, and then continues bleeding on the bathroom floor.
- Another is a post-abortion patient bleeding profusely after it's been discovered that the doctor has unknowingly perforated the uterus during the procedure.
- Greed: Cheryl makes it clear that Planned Parenthood only offers abortions for the money.
- Historical Beauty Update: None of the actors come close to looking like their real-life counterparts, though it's entirely possible that
Ability over Appearance is at play. Still, a rather jarring example of this is that the actor playing Jeff Paradowski, a real-life attorney, is a young-looking adult with a full head of curly hair. - How We Got Here: A twofer. The film begins in present day where Abby is summoned to the procedure room to assist in an abortion, little knowing that an ultrasound machine was being used. After witnessing a fetus go through a suction catheter and subsequently breaking down, the film goes back to eight years earlier with Abby in college and volunteering for Planned Parenthood where she lets slip to a protester that she already had an abortion, which then flashes back to two years earlier to explain why she had to have it in the first place.
- Lies to Children: When Abby's daughter asks about her bloodied shoes, she says that a co-worker got a nosebleed. Her husband gives her a disapproving look for lying to their child's face.
- Melodrama: It does slip into this from time to time, like Abby's reaction after witnessing an ultrasound assisted abortion in which she crumples to the floor with her hands in her head, crying. Abby in general has a lot of anguished scenes framed as such.
- Mood Lighting: Both times when a character is seen bleeding due to abortion-related complications, the colors are desaturated to make the scene feel much bleaker.
- Moral Guardians: The anti-abortion protesters who picket the clinic with pictures of eviscerated fetuses while angrily shouting at the patients and workers. There is also the Coalition for Life, whose methods culminate in a prayer circle or evangelizing patients to change their mind, and as a result they are less confrontational. Abby ends up joining the latter once she's faced with her moral dilemma.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Abby breaks down at the fact that she had two abortions after she has her epiphany, wondering if God will ever forgive her.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Cheryl is concerned for the well-being of her patients so that they won't sue if a procedure should go awry. Case in point, when a teenage girl is discovered to have a perforated uterus and is bleeding heavily, Cheryl forbids Abby to call an ambulance because it could cause a scandal. And when she advises Abby to close up the clinic during a strong hurricane, it almost seems like a Pet the Dog moment on her part until she mentions that they don't need the "liability".
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After seeing a live fetus be liquefied in a vacuum aspirator, Abby realizes she can't take it anymore, and plans to leave.
- Single Tear: The movie poster prominently features this.
- Slut-Shaming: One of the protesters shouts something along these lines at a patient, saying that she "couldn't keep [her] legs closed."
- Sweet Home Alabama: The movie is shot on location in Bryan, Texas, featuring the now-shut down Planned Parenthood clinic refurbished to recreate Abby's former workplace, though the portrayal of the city is ambivalent at best. Zig-zagged since pro-life zealots make up the bulk of anti-abortion protesters but at the same time, they coexist with the less fanatical and much friendlier Coalition of Life, who Abby slowly warms up to.
- Tears of Remorse: Abby, after seeing a fetus be suctioned from the womb and after realizing that she aborted her two children from her first husband.
- Teenage Pregnancy: Inevitably, one of the patients turns out to be in this situation who undergoes a procedure that goes wrong due to her uterus being accidentally pierced. She eventually emerges unharmed, but exhausted.
- The War on Straw: Surprisingly averted. Pro-lifers and pro-choicers are both shown to have their good and evil sides, though it still skews to the sympathy of the more peaceful category in the former, what with the movie being anti-abortion and all that. Even then, the movie goes out of its way to show that abortion practitioners and the people at Planned Parenthood are not evil, they just believe they're doing what's right. Only Cheryl is portrayed to be completely in the wrong, not necessarily because she's pro-choice, but because she wants to make abortions the main priority of Planned Parenthood when their original intent was to decrease abortions by making birth control readily available.
