Unplanned

Violence is extremely disturbing, realistic. Emotional consequences shown at excruciating length. A long early scene depicts surgical abortion: Viewers see a woman covered in a sheet, crying and whimpering "It hurts!" Picture of 13-week-old fetus shown on ultrasound, kicking and writhing as if in pain before getting pulled out of uterus, trying to hold on to sides as it's sucked out (some doctors have firmly disputed the accuracy of these images). Blood and tissue shown streaming through tubes, with liquid noises. Abortion clinic protestors hold up signs with graphic photos (e.g., unborn baby with dismembered limbs). A woman has an abortion via RU486; viewers see her retching into toilet (no vomit visible), groaning with clearly agonizing pain; blood, bloody chunks fall out from between her legs. At scene's end, camera pulls up to show bloody spatters, pools all over bathroom. Technicians reassemble bodies of aborted fetuses to make sure nothing's left in mother's body; viewers see very small realistic dead fetus's head, face, arm. A character sees realistic pre-term dead fetus in petri dish that she examines with an instrument, lifting small, bloody hand. A physician who performs abortions is shot; viewers see news report about it (does not include images of shooting).

A woman explains how she got pregnant and got an abortion. Characters kiss and then go into an apartment and shut the door; then viewers see a pregnancy test with two lines. A pro-life protester screams at a woman who's coming to Abby's clinic for an abortion that she "couldn't keep her legs closed."

Infrequent language includes "hell," "damn," and "ass." Other inflammatory language: a character calls women "princess" and "twinkies" as well as a woman getting an abortion a "baby killer." Several characters tell each other to "shut up."

A man drinks a beer as he watches television. Adults have drinks with dinner; no one acts drunk.

Parents need to know that Unplanned is based on the memoir of a former Planned Parenthood director who joined the pro-life movement after witnessing an abortion. The film's complex topic is given nuanced treatment, but ultimately its sympathies lie firmly in pro-life sentiment. Graphic content is all related to abortion, and it's very realistic and disturbing. Viewers see two "procedures": a surgical abortion and a chemical abortion (via RU486). In the first scene, a woman cries, and there are images of a well-formed 13-week-old fetus writhing and twisting as if in pain, trying to hold on to the sides of the uterus as it's sucked out (some experts have firmly disputed the accuracy of these scenes). In the second, a woman retches into a toilet, crying with agonizing cramps while blood and chunks fall out from between her legs; there are bloody smears all over her bathroom. Other scenes show technicians reassembling the bodies of aborted fetuses to make sure there's nothing left in the mother's bodies; viewers see a very small realistic dead fetus' head, face, and arm. A physician who performs abortions is shot; viewers see a news report about it, but there are no images of the shooting. A protestor holds up a picture of a dismembered infant. Characters kiss, and some drink at dinner and while watching TV, but no one acts drunk. Cursing is mild ("hell," "damn," "ass"), but there's other upsetting language, like when a man yells at a woman that she's a "baby killer" who "couldn't keep her legs closed." Viewers' take on this film will largely depend on their views around abortion, but it has both messages of compassion and empathy and scenes in which characters are cruel to one another.

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