‘God’s Not Dead’ Writers Making Movie About Planned Parenthood Director Turned Pro-Life Activist

By Amanda Read Sheik
Live Action News

Eight years ago, former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson released a book telling the story of her transformation from abortion advocate to pro-life advocate. Now for the first time, Johnson’s conversion is being told in a narrative film, Unplanned, that will hit theaters in March 2019.

A still from Unplanned, featuring a poignant scene between

Marilissa Carney (Emma Elle Roberts), Shawn Carney (Jared Lotz),

Karen Herzog (Stacey Bradshaw), and Abby Johnson (Ashley Bratcher).

The $6 million budget drama was written and directed by God’s Not Dead writer-directors Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, and filmed under the working title Redeemed. Bolstering the creative muscle are producers Daryl Lefever and Joe Knopp, whose latest release, I Can Only Imagine, has grossed more than $83 million on a $7 million budget.

Live Action’s founder and president Lila Rose also makes an appearance in the film as a reporter.

READ: Abby Johnson explains why women don’t need Planned Parenthood for healthcare

Unplanned was shot secretly in Oklahoma over the summer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In an interview with The Stream, Solomon explained that the “strict embargo” on everyone involved in the production was due to protecting the set from possible harassment, “[b]ecause it would be very difficult to film if people were trying to burn down the warehouse while we’re in it. Or if protestors show up to scream and throw stones.”

Ashley Bratcher (90 Minutes in Heaven, War Room), who plays Johnson in the film, doesn’t shy away from the risk of controversy among her friends of varying opinions in the film industry. “This is a chance to open up the conversation to my pro-choice friends,” she told The Stream. “Here is one woman’s real-life story. Let’s talk about it.”

Abby Johnson, Former
Planned Parenthood Director  

Konzelman told THR that “no matter which side you come down on, there’s a big chunk of this movie that will make you uncomfortable, because Abby has been pro-choice and pro-life.” Solomon echoed the painfully objective nature of the subject, adding, “it’s not an attack movie, it’s about right and wrong. We just try to tell Abby’s story, and it’s an interesting journey.”

A catalytic character in Johnson’s life, Coalition for Life volunteer Karen – a role blending the influence of both Karen Herzog and Heather Gardner – is portrayed by Stacey Bradshaw (Touched By Grace, Wanted). “My heart overflows as I sit here thinking about my time on this film set,” Bradshaw writes on her blog. “God’s hand was on this project from start to finish, and I can’t wait to see what he’s going to do with it!”

READ: Former abortion worker Abby Johnson explains Planned Parenthood’s true intentions

Herzog now works for Johnson’s organization And Then There Were None, which aids abortion clinic workers in their own quests to leave the abortion industry.

Live Action News continues here

Abortionist Quits After a Dream: “These Children are the Ones You Killed With Your Abortions”

By Micaiah Bilger
Life News

Nightmares and dreams about children plagued Stojan Adasevic for years while he worked as an abortionist for communist Serbia.

In 26 years, Stojan aborted approximately 48,000 unborn children, including his own relatives. According to his communist country, however, he only was removing blobs of tissue.

The National Catholic Register reports Stojan had a conversion experience, partially as a result of his dreams, and he now is one of the strongest advocates for unborn babies’ lives in Eastern Europe.

Here’s more from the report:

In describing his conversion to La Razon, Adasevic “dreamed about a beautiful field full of children and young people who were playing and laughing, from four to 24 years of age, but who ran away from him in fear. A man dressed in a black and white habit stared at him in silence. The dream was repeated each night and he would wake up in a cold sweat.

One night Stojan asked the man in black and white in his frightening dream as to his identity.

“My name is Thomas Aquinas,” he responded. Stojan, educated in communist schools that pushed atheism instead of real learning, didn’t recognize the Dominican saint’s name.

Stojan asked the nightly visitor, “Who are these children?”

“They are the ones you killed with your abortions,” St. Thomas told him bluntly and without preamble.

Stojan awoke in shock and fear. He decided he would refuse to participate in any more abortions.

His resolve was difficult to follow the next day when he went into work. Stojan said one of his cousins came to the hospital with his pregnant girlfriend. They wanted an abortion, and he reluctantly agreed, according to the report.

Stojan Adasevic's story continues