Director Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Batgirl) produced a bizarre ode to Planned Parenthood, a short film called “UNLOCKED.” The brief video, less than three minutes in length, is structured as a horror movie in reverse, showing what would supposedly happen in a world without Planned Parenthood. Spoiler alert: According to Whedon this includes a woman dying from cancer, teens having an awkward fight about STDs, and a pregnant mom giving up a full scholarship—all because the local Planned Parenthood had a “Closed” sign on the door. While the video is a gallant effort at propaganda, an examination of the facts reveals “UNLOCKED” is pure fantasy.
In the real world, Planned Parenthood has never offered life-saving mammograms. What cancer screening they do offer has been in steadily decline in recent years, along with other important services like prenatal care. In the same years, annual reports reveal that Planned Parenthood’s abortion numbers remained steady (more than 320,000 per year). Outside of Whedon’s carefully constructed fantasy, Planned Parenthood isn’t saving teens from awkward snafus about STDs. Planned Parenthood workers are actively encouraging dangerous sexual practices for young teens, ignoring abuse, and covering up for sex traffickers. Outside of abortion propaganda, women who experience an unplanned pregnancy can go on to finish school and start their careers. In every case, Whedon’s dire predictions have nothing to do with the real Planned Parenthood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vTG4lUl1PU
What’s worse, Planned Parenthood seems to miss the morbid fittingness of endorsing Whedon’s film by telling supporters to watch, share, and “slay.” The advertising is apparently a play on words from Whedon’s cult classic TV series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Planned Parenthood explained, “If there’s anything we’ve learned from Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, The Avengers) over the years, it’s this — every single one of us has a hero inside; and it’s our responsibility to use our superpowers to slay.” As Live Action pointed out, “slaying” is what Planned Parenthood does every single day: committing abortions. Planned Parenthood kills more preborn children than any other abortion business in the United States. While Whedon carefully avoids any hint of abortion in his ode to Planned Parenthood, telling fans that Planned Parenthood is in the business of “slaying” inadvertently reminds us of the ugly truth.
After watching Whedon’s fantasy movie, viewers could easily forget that Planned Parenthood’s superpower is killing preborn babies. In his PR, Whedon also alluded to this grisly fact, whether intentionally or not. Whedon claimed, “I’ve supported Planned Parenthood in the past, but until I worked with them closely on this, I didn’t understand how many services they — and for some, they alone — provide.” There is only one “service” that Planned Parenthood offers that federally qualified health centers do not: abortion.
Each woman in the film could have been fully helped at a federally qualified health center offering cancer screenings (including mammograms), STD testing and treatment, and professional healthcare. In other words, “UNLOCKED” proves that women don’t need Planned Parenthood’s slaying superpower. Why should our tax dollars go to a business whose only unique contribution is killing the preborn? Women do need reliable health centers to meet a variety of needs. Thankfully, those health centers outnumber Planned Parenthood in every state. Whedon’s video is a good reminder that the time has come to offer all women real health care. We need to stop sending them to Big Abortion Planned Parenthood.