Americans’ opinions about abortion are still split about fifty-fifty, so Planned Parenthood would like to tilt the scales in its favor. But it’s not waiting for the next Supreme Court decision. It’s starting in Hollywood.
If you’ve seen a story line about abortion in a film or TV show lately, chances are, it’s been evaluated, modified, and approved by Planned Parenthood. Last month, the Washington Post ran a glowing feature on Caren Spruch, Planned Parenthood’s director of arts and entertainment engagement, the woman tasked with turning scripts into abortion propaganda.
Spruch monitors everything from how Planned Parenthood facilities look on screen to how providers speak (as the Post reports, “a Planned Parenthood doctor wouldn’t curse.”) She consulted on Obvious Child, a 2014 comedy about a woman who gets an abortion after a one-night stand (a kind of reverse Knocked Up). Gillian Robespierre, Obvious Child‘s writer and director, explains, “She’s like Planned Parenthood’s secret weapon.”
More recently, Spruch collaborated on Shrill, the Hulu TV show based on a book of the same name by Lindy West. West, who created the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion, appears in the show as Annie, a woman who becomes bold and empowered after having an abortion.
“I got myself into this huge f—ing mess, but I made a decision, only for me, for myself, and I got myself out of it,” Annie says. “I feel very f—ing powerful right now.”
It’s a pretty sad empowerment that comes at the expense of another’s life, but that’s the message Spruch, Planned Parenthood, and Hollywood have been preaching. According to the Post, Spruch “estimates that Planned Parenthood has advised on more than 150 movies and shows since that first effort with Obvious Child.”
Spruch may encourage screenwriters to tell stories about abortion, but she likely wouldn’t do so if the plots were to end up with a woman making a morally based choice to keep her baby.
“It’s like the tobacco industry getting to fact-check how smoking is treated in films,” Lila Rose, the founder of the pro-life group Live Action, said. “They have no business influencing anyone’s screenwriting … it’s a real injustice.”
In another corner of the film industry, however, there are movies that push back against the pro-choice narrative. Earlier this year, the film Unplanned defied box office expectations to earn twice the predicted revenue on its opening weekend.
The film, which tells the story of former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson’s conversion from abortion clinic manager to pro-life activist, was unsurprisingly popular with a movie-going population that has too infrequently seen abortion story lines that involve sympathetic pro-life characters.
So even pro-life advocates agree that in the battle for public opinion, investing in Hollywood is the way to go. “If Peter and Paul and John and James were around today, they wouldn’t go knocking on doors,” Unplanned filmmaker Cary Solomon said. “They would make a TV show.”
For her part, Spruch fully understands the weight of the entertainment industry. Before she began her abortion campaign in earnest, she thought, “Oh, everyone says Hollywood is so liberal, but what are we doing with actors?”
Years later, the answer is pretty clear. The biggest abortion provider in the United States has had a hand in 150 films and TV shows, and dozens of actors and studios pleased the organization by promising to withhold business from Georgia after its “heartbeat” abortion ban passed.
But Planned Parenthood isn’t stopping in Hollywood. It’s moving to all aspects of the entertainment industry. More than 100 musical artists recently joined Planned Parenthood for its “Bans Off My Body” initiative; the group includes everyone from Lady Gaga and Lizzo to 17-year-old Billie Eilish. “We cannot live freely and move fully in the world when our basic right to access the reproductive health care we need is under attack,” the star wrote.
Planned Parenthood has strategically positioned itself to coax these types of overwrought statements from stars, and so far, it has learned to control the narrative. Pro-choice propaganda is winning in film and in music. The question is: What will pro-life advocates do about it?
