“Unplanned” Banned: Canadian Distributors Refuse to Carry Anti-Abortion Film

When the pro-life movie “Unplanned” opened here in the States a month or two ago, there was a minor controversy about Twitter blocking the movie’s official account for a few hours. And while that was simply more evidence that the social media powers-that-be have a censorious agenda they’re pushing on users, the movie’s actual rollout was unaffected. It was a raging success, quite frankly, earning back its budget and then some in one of the most spectacular Christian movie openings of all time. Makes you glad to live in America, where even when as Hollywood and the media are sworn enemies of conservative culture, this kind of content can still get through.

Apparently that’s not the case in Canada.

From LifeSiteNews:

Distribution companies are effectively banning the film Unplanned from screening in Canadian cinemas, according to the producers of the pro-life biopic.

Speaking at an Ottawa news conference on May 8, producer Lisa Wheeler said, “We have been effectively blocked from distributing the film in Canada.”

Chuck Konzelman, the film’s writer, director, and producer, told LifeSiteNews via email that at least one of the two largest Canadian film distributors said “content” rather than a lack of consumer demand is the reason for banning the film.

According to Konzelman, Canadian law requires that films have distributors so that they can be shown theatrically. In addition, no rating from one of the provincial film boards can be granted, because the producers must list a distributor on the application forms to the film boards.

Apparently, Mongrel Media, which is the largest film distributor in Canada, outright told producers that they would not carry “Unplanned” because of its content. This struck Konzelman as strange, given that the movie is free from sex, nudity, foul language, or anything else of a potentially objectionable nature.

“It’s the pro-life message itself which is objectionable,” he surmised.

This is a damn shame, but it’s not particularly surprising. Liberals all over the Western world are terrified of the pro-life message, especially when it comes packaged in a film as effective as this one. You can’t watch “Unplanned” without re-thinking your pro-choice position on abortion. Maybe it won’t win over everyone, but it will definitely change some minds. That, for a culture which has made abortion synonymous with “women’s rights,” is completely unacceptable.

Rest assured, though: If they’re scared to the point of preventing people from even seeing a movie that might move the needle, they know a massive cultural shift is in the making. Only a matter of time, now. Only a matter of time.