February 1, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Being cast in an upcoming film about pro-life leader Abby Johnson’s conversion story led to Ashley Bratcher learning of her own brush with abortion and deepened her appreciation of God’s plans, the actress told LifeSiteNews in a new interview.
Unplanned is being made by the creators of Christian hits such as God's Not Dead and I Can Only Imagine, in partnership with 40 Days for Life and Abby Johnson’s And Then There Were None. It tells the real-life story of Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood abortion facility director who converted to the pro-life cause in 2009. Johnson has exposed numerous details about the inner workings of the abortion industry and now works as a pro-life activist and commentator.
“We have been given a false narrative by our secular media that tells us that the abortion industry is ‘safe, sanitary and provides high-quality health care for women,’” Johnson told LifeSiteNews in 2016. “The only way to effectively combat that myth is by revealing the true stories and the real horror that is taking place behind those clinic walls.”
“When I first got cast for the film I had five hours to get on a plane, to fly out to Oklahoma for eight weeks. I only had time to tell three people: my husband, my sister, my son,” Bratcher, who plays Johnson, told LifeSite. “So on the fourth day that I was on set my mother called me and I went on to tell her where I was and what I was doing. And I was really hesitant to share Abby’s story because when I was younger my mother told me that she had had an abortion when she was in high school.”
“And as I started telling her about Abby's testimony and what the film was about, she got very emotional […] she said, ‘Ashley, I need to tell you something that you've never heard before,’” the actress recalled, relaying that her mother had planned an abortion at age 19, but upon being examined by a “very pregnant nurse,” she “got very sick and I knew that I couldn't go through with it. And I got up and I walked out and I chose you.”
WATCH: Trailer released for ‘Unplanned’ movie about Abby Johnson’s pro-life conversion
“And what's so powerful about that experience is that I never knew. I had no idea,” Bratcher explained. “And here I was in Oklahoma, on set to tell one of what I think is the greatest pro-life stories of our time, and I never knew. So it was so evident to me and I still just feel so overwhelmed when I tell it because I believe that God plans our steps from conception.”
“For me to be standing here and to have that come full circle just…I just feel so humbled that God loves us that much that he would give me, this nobody, the opportunity to tell this story that he cares for so personally,” she told LifeSiteNews.
Unplanned follows the pro-life film Gosnell and serves as another counterweight to a variety of upcoming pro-abortion movies. It’s slated for release in March; more information can be found at the film’s official website.