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Unplanned

July 12, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — I must admit that I never suspected an American pro-life film airing in a handful of theatres across Canada would cause such an uproar across the country, but I was wrong. Both Liberal politicians and abortion activists appear to believe that the story of former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson, who became pro-life after witnessing an abortion unfold on an ultrasound screen, is incredibly dangerous, and Liberal cabinet ministers are lying loudly on television, joined in their chorus of deceit and hysteria by Canada’s abortion activists. I wasn’t planning to write anything about Unplanned, but I do have a few thoughts on the response it has received.

First of all, it is important to note that abortion activists are lying about the dynamics of the abortion debate when they claim that those on their side of the divide face violence: it is pro-lifers who almost exclusively face violence from abortion-supporters in Canada. Just recently, two abortion-supporters were convicted of assaulting pro-life activists in Canada: Gabby Skwarko for attacking my friend Katie Somers at a pro-life display at Ryerson University and Jordan Hunt for roundhouse-kicking Marie-Claire Bissonnette and shoving one of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform’s female interns into the street.

Events like these are not rare. Pro-lifers are regularly screamed at and spat on, and they regularly have their belongings stolen and vandalized with spray-paint and knives. One woman got hospitalized after a knife attack some years ago at Life Chain. As I’ve detailed exhaustively before, the simple reality of the abortion debate in Canada is that peaceful pro-lifers face off with verbally abusive and physically violent abortion-supporters on a regular basis. This can be proven by extensive video footage, news reports, and firsthand accounts. If abortion activists faced a fraction of what pro-lifers face on a day-to-day basis in this country, they would be demanding individual bubble zones for every protester who ventures into the public.

Hilariously, when Joyce Arthur of the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada claimed that violence might come to Canada if Unplanned was screened by Canadian theatres, she was right. She indignantly posted a handful of stupid and ugly social media comments she got from people (as if idiots on social media proved her thesis or anything else) — but the reality is that the police had to be called only when two theatre-owners received death threats from abortion-supporters over the pro-life film, and the owners reported being “fearful for their families.” Other theatre-owners were “harassed in the extreme.” So it appears that Joyce Arthur was correct when she predicted the potential for violence. But, as usual, she was wrong about who was willing to threaten or perpetrate that violence. Characteristically, it came from her side.

Joyce Arthur has never allowed the truth to slow her down, so she has gone on to ignore the fact that abortion-supporters are uttering death threats and suggesting online that abortion-supporters attempt to disrupt screenings. She is telling every media outlet that will listen that she still fears violence against those in the abortion industry. Ironically, this proves that she isn’t even aware of Abby Johnson’s story: this entire story is about abortion industry workers. They are the main characters. The story focuses on their experiences. This story humanizes them rather than dehumanizes them, which is of course more than anyone can say for the repulsive rhetoric Arthur and those on her side apply to pre-born children and pro-life activists.

Canada’s abortion activists and Liberal politicians are reacting to a film that presents an alternative point of view much the way a vampire reacts to a mirror. They claim to be terrified of the reaction that the film might trigger from peaceful pro-lifers, but in this regard, they are consciously lying to the Canadian public once again. The truth is they are terrified of people seeing an alternative point of view, because even Joyce Arthur knows, in her heart of hearts, that what she champions is horrifying. Even she, surely, has seen a sonogram or an ultrasound photo and recognized the humanity there. Even she, surely, has felt a flicker of doubt or conscience as she saw the tiny arms, legs, and face. And if they were truly honest, Canada’s abortion activists would spend the duration of the time that the film is screening begging for their own supporters to restrain themselves and asking them to refrain from illegal or violent behavior.

Jonathon’s new podcast, The Van Maren Show, is dedicated to telling the stories of the pro-life and pro-family movement. In his latest episode, he interviews Dr. Daniel K. Williams, author of two books published by the Oxford University Press: God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right and Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement Before Roe v. Wade. This episode of The Van Maren Show and the second book are absolutely filled with information that everyone in the pro-life movement needs to know about.

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Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.