The Hard Reality of Pro-Life Films
Updated: Jul 13, 2022
There have been many pro-life films and documentaries made in the past decade. Some critics, even Christian ones, often share the sentiment that such things should not be on film. But the truth is, if something is that hard to look at, it tells us something is morally and unequivocally wrong.
One movie stands out to me is Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer, a movie I watched with my friend Kris back in 2018. As I was preparing to blog about the experience, I decided to ask her to share a paragraph or two of her thoughts. It wasn’t long before she called and said, “I got started and couldn’t stop”. I believe what she wrote is far better than what I would have, but my short input is this:
Watch it with a friend, a box of tissue, and with the awareness that as hard as it may be to watch, movies like this save lives and preventing further trauma and heartache.
Thoughts from my dear friend, Kris.
The day I saw the Gosnell movie was a day of both raw emotion and clarity.
This is not a feel-good movie. This is a horrifying look into the abortion industry, and the extreme harm that it inflicts on women and children.
I went to this movie with my dearest friend, Cindy Brunk. Cindy is the author of the book, “Love Will”. She is also a public speaker, an activist, and a woman who has gone through an after abortion healing program. She now leads women and men through organized workshops to help them heal from the aftermath and emotional guilt of having had, participated in or suffered from an abortion. Cindy is a rock star.
Together, we watched this difficult movie about an abortionist, who, as the story unfolds, we learn is also an emotionless murderer. The movie took us into Dr. Gosnell’s abortion clinic, an inner city facility that was offensively filthy, completely disorganized, ill equipped and disgustingly unhygienic.
The “services” that he provided to low income, mostly black women guaranteed that they would be relieved of their burden of pregnancy, regardless of their gestational stage. This dedicated abortionist justified (in his mind, and to his staff) that dead babies were their only goal, and should a baby come through that procedure with life signs (crying, breathing, movement), those babies were to have their spine, in the back of their neck, severed with a pair of scissors. He called this routine practice “snipping”. The jury correctly called it “Murder”.
The producers, screenwriters, directors and actors did a marvelous job portraying the monster that is Dr. Kermit Gosnell.
However, another, more subtle takeaway from this movie happened during a specific trial scene.
Taking the witness stand was a professional, well dressed woman. She was a physician who proudly described her very reputable abortion clinic, illustrating her high standards of cleanliness, professional medical staff and adherence to protocols of medical procedures, safety and law. She had personally performed over 30,000 Abortions. Her confidence and professionalism was compelling. She gave testimony of contrast as to how far Dr. Gosnell and his clinic had strayed from the high Industry Standard. And yet, when asked how a mistake was handled at her clinic; what was done if a fetus/baby was delivered with life signs, her answer shattered me. A baby born alive would be treated with “comfort care”, defined as wrapping it in a blanket and then setting him/her aside to die from negligence. There was no effort to be made for this baby who had survived an abortion. Just more suffering until death claimed the “mistake”. The end goal was the same.
Nearly all babies leave an abortion clinic only as dead babies. Suddenly the stark contrast of clean versus filthy didn’t matter. Trained medical staff versus non-medical staff didn’t matter. Professionally respected abortionist versus a crazy butcher didn’t matter. The goals of these two grossly different approaches resulted in the same outcome. Negligence as opposed to scissors. The result is the same. Dead babies.
It was a tough movie to watch. It was tougher still, knowing that my best friend was sitting right next to me, likely reliving some of her own abortion. The gentleman sitting two seats away from me openly sniffled and wiped away a flood of tears.
No one left the theater without soggy tissues, and a choice to make. There was no way to deny what we had all just seen. We all knew that we had just been tasked with making a difference for the unborn, help to the helpless and to give a voice to the voiceless.
What pro-life films have impacted your life or worldview? Do you think there is still a need for movies like Gosnell?