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Pro-Life Movie from GOD’S NOT DEAD Writers Receives R-Rating from MPAA

Pro-Life Movie from GOD’S NOT DEAD Writers Receives R-Rating from MPAA

By Ben Kayser, Managing Editor

In 2019, Movieguide® celebrated a record number of visitors to our website. Thanks to your generous support, we’ve reported on how God is moving in Hollywood. The following article was one of our most popular stories of the year. Please read the story and reflect on how God has moved in your life in 2019. Click here to find out how you can make a difference in Hollywood in 2020.
This article originally appeared on February 11, 2019.

UNPLANNED is the powerful true story of Abby Johnson, a young woman who gets drawn into working for Planned Parenthood until one day she sees something that changes her mind and inspires her to become a pro-life advocate. The movie, which Movieguide® has screened and dubs an “extremely well-made movie” and “powerful,” received an R-rating from the MPAA for “some disturbing/bloody images.” However, is UNPLANNED grisly and disturbing enough to earn an R-rating instead of a PG-13 rating, something that could majorly hurt the success of the faith-based movie?

Movieguide® gave UNPLANNED a -1 acceptability rating, which means discretion is advised for older children. While the material is heavy, the violence and bloody images are low by Hollywood’s standards. Other 2019 movies like HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U, MISS BALA and GLASS features many killings, murders, and deaths, and each of these received a PG-13 movie, allowing older teenagers to attend without adult supervision.

Writers/Directors Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman (GOD’S NOT DEAD) filmed UNPLANNED in secret in Oklahoma in order to avoid unnecessary protest from Planned Parenthood activists. In response to the R-rating, the filmmakers told Movieguide®, “UNPLANNED is an ‘R’ rated film which has no MPAA cautions for profanity, nudity, sex or violence… except for violence directly associated with the abortion process. Ironically, the MPAA seems to be indirectly endorsing the pro-life position: namely that abortion is an act of violence.” They continued, “even more ironically, as a result of the MPAA’s decision to give us a ‘Restricted’ rating, many teenage women in this country who can legally obtain an actual abortion without parental permission will be prohibited from going to see our film containing simulated images of abortion, without obtaining parental permission.”

Despite the MPAA’s decision, the writer/director duo isn’t letting it squash their spirits. “But, maybe it’s all for the best: As the wife of our lead film attorney put it: ‘This is a movie that every mother of a teenage girl needs to take her daughter by the hand and go see with her.’  So as far as we’re concerned, ‘R’ means ‘Recommended.’”

Abby Johnson is played by actress Ashley Bratcher, who shared that the message became especially important to her when her mother told Bratcher that she was minutes away from being aborted herself. While abortion has become a heated political issue again, multiple Pro-Life movies have come to fruition recently. Last fall GOSNELL (which did receive a PG-13 rating), starring Dean Cain released in theaters about the convicted abortionist doctor Kermit Gosnell, and later this year ROE V. WADE will be released.

Konzelman and Solomon told Movieguide® that they do not plan on contesting the R-rating with MPAA. UNPLANNED releases in theaters March 29, 2019.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.