France likes to give moral lessons to others about freedom of expression but seems to have a big problem of its own when it comes to the discussion around certain subjects they the self-styled elite deem ‘sensitive’. This is certainly the case with abortion, as illustrated once again by the hysterical reactions by the broadcasting on a private television channel, C8, of the American pro-life movie ‘Unplanned’.

Released in 2019 in the United States where it was a big hit despite being censored by some movie theatre chains, ‘Unplanned’ was broadcast in France by C8 on Monday night, Aug. 16, without ever having been released for theatrical release in France.

The next day, Elisabeth Moreno, the Minister for Equality between Women and Men in the Castex government, ‘firmly’ condemned the broadcast and said that by showing this movie the channel was ‘guilty of the offense of obstructing’ the voluntary termination of pregnancies.

In France, the ‘délit d’entrave’, i.e., obstructionism, or putting obstacles to an abortion, was originally an offense committed by a person who sought to prevent or hinder an abortion. Since then, with French legislation promoting abortion the simple act of trying to convince a woman not to have an abortion can also be considered an obstruction offense.

At the same time, in 2001, the French parliament abolished the offense of incitement to abortion. In other words, in France, pressuring a woman to have an abortion is no longer an offense. However, explaining to her that there are alternatives to abortion and showing her pictures of what an abortion really is can be considered an offense of obstruction and can earn you two years of imprisonment and a heavy fine.

In France, pro-life organizations can no longer leave brochures informing women about assistance in the event of an unwanted pregnancy for fear of being charged with ‘obstructing abortions.’

‘At 14 weeks, you have to crush the skull, it’s infanticide.’ Facing her, a pro-abortion criminal lawyer, Julia Courvoisier, reacted aggressively.

‘The last time abortion was considered a crime was under the Vichy regime in 1940 (the German Occupation 1940-1944). What you are saying is extremely serious,’ she said.

She then brandished the threat of legal action against the pro-life activist who had only stated scientific facts, saying, ‘I remind you that obstructing abortion is a legal offense. The comments you have made and the photos you have shown could clearly fall within this offense.’

The movie ‘Unplanned’ tells the true story of American woman Abby Johnson, a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director who became a pro-life activist after witnessing an abortion herself.

Johnson told her story in the book ‘Unplanned’, from which the film was made. Her testimony is that of a person she had been convinced that she was helping women, even when she was helping them to kill their babies in the womb.

But she understood that the volunteers from the Coalition for Life, an organization that offers women help to avoid having an abortion, and the 40 Days for Life volunteers praying behind the fence of her abortion clinic, also wanted to help women.

It was not until she had to personally observe an ultrasound-assisted abortion on a 13-week-old foetus in 2009 that Johnson fully understood what an abortion really was.

She says she saw very clearly on the screen the baby pushing back the cannula with its feet and twisting before being dislocated and sucked out of the woman’s womb. This was at a time when she was under pressure from state-funded Planned Parenthood management to increase her clinic’s income by increasing the number of abortions, which were brought more money to her organization than family planning and counselling.

The day Johnson realised she was on the wrong side of the fence at her clinic, she turned to the Coalition for Life after leaving Planned Parenthood.

To show this film on television in France is to expose the reality of what an abortion is. But to express opinions hostile to abortion, is a legal offense in France. This is one of the reasons why French movie theatres have not shown it. In addition to the threats made by a member of the French government against a private television channel, the French press had received a large number of reports and that it was going to look into the matter because the movie ‘could constitute an obstruction to the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, which is now an offense under French law’ (Le Figaro).

In Poland, in spite of heavy and often misled criticism in the left-wing media, the movie ‘Unplanned’ was shown by major multiplex movie theatre chains and later on television. In Hungary, it was not shown in movie theatres, but it can be seen online, and the right-wing media reported very favourably on it.

In France, before last week’s television broadcast stirred such an uproar, the film had only been shown in private and community screenings, and the distributor, SAJE Distribution, which specialises in the distribution of films with Christian themes, categorically refuses to speak in the media about it to avoid trouble with French authorities. Source and Video