Journo calls out Planned Parenthood for false hysteria
According to The Wrap it was “an individual to [sic] knowledge of the situation” who whispered in its ear that NBC was refusing to air an ad for the pro-abortion movie Obvious Child if it included the word “abortion.”
At Bustle this news came ”according to The Wrap,” i.e., Chinese telephone.
It was “sources” who told the New York Post’s Page 6 and “a source [who] told Page 6” when the rumor jumped across the pond to The Daily Mail.
Finally, the source revealed itself to The Hill as Planned Parenthood Action Fund (although NARAL was the source elsewhere), and to its credit, The Hill properly investigated and shot Planned Parenthood’s false hysteria down (even if the post’s title perpetuated the abortion giant’s Pinnochio):
NBC said the Planned Parenthood group has its facts wrong.
“No final spots were submitted to NBC broadcast standards for on-air consideration and NBC Broadcast Advertising Sales was never contacted about a media buy on NBC for spots related to this movie,” said a spokeswoman for NBCUniversal.
“Moreover, initial feedback from our broadcast standards group did not include any suggestion to remove a specific word.”
Planned Parenthood is substantially invested in Obvious Child, not only because it was “consulted heavily” during the making of the movie but also because it played a part….
Loved this scene in the amazing, funny, honest, touching #ObviousChild—can you figure out where it's set? :) pic.twitter.com/x3tsYgvkHZ
— Planned Parenthood Action (@PPact) June 17, 2014
That’s all aside from the huge propaganda factor, since Obvious Child seeks to normalize and even joke about abortion.
But The Hill didn’t stop with calling out Planned Parenthood there; it also shot down the organization for falsely accusing NBC of “editing out a joke that referred to abortion in its show Last Comic Standing. Full footage of the joke revealed that the edited word was referring to oral sex, not abortion,” as Jezebel details a bit more.
Whether or not Planned Parenthood’s false hysteria regarding the A-word and Obvious Child was intentional, it did achieve the goal of getting the movie lots of “earned media,” or free press.
But the hysteria is also telling. On the defensive much, Planned Parenthood?
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Abortion advocates censor pro-lifers constantly. We don’t do the same back to them, so they have to “even the scales” by inventing persecution.
They’re trying to play put-upon victim.
Planned Parenthood are ingenious liars. They just generated millions of dollars worth of free exposure in their favorite venues.
Obvious Child is still a dinky, independent movie. It played in 55 theaters last weekend. It has only grossed about $600k thus far (that’s close to the amount of taxpayer money that PP takes in one day).
This movie will not go anywhere.
But for PP and HuffPo and Jezebel, the success of the movie is irrelevant. They mean to talk about the movie — a lot — like is a significant contribution to our culture. “Abortion comedy” is wonderful, because everyone loves abortion again. All the cool kids are doing it. This is the future now….
They mean to keep the buzz going. Our job is to control the buzz…. If Obvious Child comes up, remind the people in your vicinity that it isn’t funny. It’s just sad that Planned Parenthood has resorted to making jokes about abortion. Imagine if the Big Tobacco companies backed a comedy about some guy with lung cancer.
Box office data on Obvious Child:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=obviouschild.htm
I don’t get the title. Are they flaunting it in everyone’s face?
“Yes, it’s a child (obviously) and we don’t care. If becoming parents is going to interrupt the plan we have for our lives, we’re going to kill our child and laugh about it.”
Perhaps someone who is more familiar with the movie can enlighten me.
I found didn’t see the film and I have no intention of seeing it, but I read that the title is from a Paul Simon song. I guess the filmmaker is saying that the main character is such a child herself that she couldn’t possibly take care of one herself. Two thoughts: At the risk of “slut shaming,” maybe having unprotected sex under the influence of alcohol isn’t such a good idea: 2. I guess adoption wasn’t an option.
Thanks Phillymiss!
For those who enjoy comparing box office data, here are the results from Bella, a beautiful independent pro-life film from 2007, touching and romantic. Same basic premise as Obvious Child: an unexpected pregnancy, a young woman who is unable to care for herself (much less a child in her life), a good-looking guy hanging about.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=bella.htm
Bella was a much bigger movie than Obvious Child, opening in many more theaters and making a lot more money by this point in its run.
2007 also saw Juno, which was a blockbuster hit with the same premise.
Bella and Juno resolve their plots with adoptions, an ending that feels good audiences. Obvious Child does neither.
The abortion industry and the pro-bort press are desperately trying to grow this movie into more theaters before it withers. At this point, it may never make it to a theater in Chicagoland.
Good-looking? That guy in Bella was GORGEOUS! Yes, I know that I’m being a hypocrite by talking about looks, but he made this cougar want to purrrrrr — no lust, just a healthy appreciation of a handsome guy, Carla ;-) Actually the thought of dating someone young enough to be my son or daughter is creepy, at least in my book.
Don’t forget about “October Baby,” which actually made the top ten! Unfortunately “Gimme Shelter” didn’t do too well, but my daughter said that it made her cry!
Bella was produced by Jason Jones, who is a friend of this blog.
Jason enjoys sharing stories about his good friend Eduardo Verástegui, how devastatingly handsome Eduardo is, and the sorts of mischief that result.
Eduardo prays on the sidewalks and saves lives, just like us.
I have been searching over the web, trying to find out what theaters will be showing Obvious Child next weekend.
After the movie opened to packed screens at three theaters on June 6, the distributor boasted that they would expand to major markets and go nationwide this weekend (June 27).
http://www.deadline.com/2014/06/specialty-box-office-obvious-child-big-debut-weekend/
AMC Theatres advertise that they will be showing Obvious Child.
https://www.amctheatres.com/movies/obvious-child
Our hope is that word-of-mouth will kill this movie and its premise, just as word-of-mouth kept Bella in the theaters much longer than an independent film usually survives.
@Del – Well, a film that is a hit in LA and NYC might not play in Peoria. We shall see.
I don’t understand the ‘borts, though. First they tell us that abortion is something that women “do not take lightly,” now it’s just a joke. Make up your minds, already!
The pro-borts are searching for a message, and they mean to find one.
Same-sex marriage scored a hit with “equality.”
Euthanasia found a winning tune with “compassion.”
Abortion had a great run with “choice.”
But “pro-choice” is no longer effective, now that every young woman in America knows what an ultrasound image looks like. There really is a child to be reckoned with…. Not just a “choice” to be pregnant (or not) by dispensing with a blob of goo.
The abortion industry is trying on just about every shoe they can think of — “care” and “comedy” and “mammograms” — “stigma” and “shame” and even “shoes”! (Remember “not in her shoes”?)
They are looking for a hook that will capture the imagination of a public that is turning increasingly toward life. They will not make up their minds until they find it.
[…] Availability in the United States, 2011,” and Planned Parenthood’s annual reports, showing Planned Parenthood’s ever-increasing share of the U.S. abortion […]