Life as a Faith-filled film star

Unplanned star Ashley Bratcher talks to Chai Brady about Christmas, Faith, the film and ‘intimidating’ workplaces

US pro-life film star turned producer Ashley Bratcher, who made waves after starring in a contentious film about abortion, opened up about her devout Faith that shapes every part of her life and how the Christmas season for her is about family and remembering the “reason for the season”.

Being a Christian, she says, her identity is routed in Christ, which helps her not to lose sight of what’s important regardless of trying circumstances.

Recently transitioning from actress to producer, her Faith plays a pivotal role in surviving in a workplace that can be particularly tough on women, Ashley tells this paper during a visit to Ireland.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic before addressing a crowd at the Pro-Life Campaign’s conference in the RDS in Dublin, Mrs Bratcher said that her Christian beliefs helps her stay strong in a sometimes difficult and “intimidating” male dominated work environment.

Identity

Born in North Carolina but now living in Georgia with her husband David and nine-year-old-son, Ashley has appeared in several Christian films but is best known for her role in pro-life film Unplanned which premiered in Ireland in September.

Ashley says: “I am a Christian, my Faith plays a huge part in my daily life and I find my identity in Jesus Christ in what the Word says about me in the Bible and that helps me stay routed in an industry that can be very hard on people. There’s a lot of rejection and I think a lot of people get caught up in confusing their identity in something else and that’s never really fulfilling I think for anyone.”

It’s particularly tough for women, Ashley continues, saying: “I have just become a producer, an early development on a project that I’m acquiring the rights to tell. I have found that there are not many female producers in the industry, it’s a very male dominated field, and there are not a lot of female directors.

“There still is this kind of gender bias that people don’t actually acknowledge much, but I think it’s being exposed more and more with a lot of the scandals that have been revealed in Hollywood.”

Confidence is extremely important, she explains, as she is sometimes the only woman in the room.

“We do have to come into a room with a sense of confidence, we have to be willing to stand our ground, because there is this sense of the ‘old boys club’ sometimes and you can find yourself being the only women sitting at a table with 10 men and it’s a little intimidating, it can be, but I think that is shifting a little bit in the States now,” she says.

“I am learning, I will say it has been somewhat intimidating because most of the people I work with are males but I have found a wonderful female mentor who works for a studio and knowing her story and her taking time to invest in me and help me and guide me has been so wonderful.

“It’s nice to have someone who can relate to you and guide you and someone that you admire who’s in a position that someday you might like to be in.”

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The film Unplanned caused a ruckus, even outrage, when it came to Ireland – receiving a frosty reception from the majority of media outlets. There were many claims that it was inaccurate or a propaganda piece for the pro-life movement.

The film Unplanned has been viewed by millions of people according to producers and has been screened in over a dozen countries including Canada and the US.

Ashley plays Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director. The film documents her decision to join the pro-life movement.

Ms Johnson was one of the youngest Planned Parenthood directors in the US, working in Texas she was involved in tens of thousands of abortions. She even won the Planned Parenthood Employee of the Year Award.

It was on September 26, 2009, that she was asked to assist with an ultrasound-guided abortion. Her involvement in the process changed her life and values and she decided to embrace the pro-life movement.

I think that if we really wanted to go there we could have but we didn’t make a movie for shock and awe”

In the US, the directors of the movie criticised a decision by the Motion Picture Association of America to rate the film as ‘R’, meaning restricted.

Ashley came to Ireland in Autumn and addressed an 800-strong crowd at the Pro-Life Campaign conference in the RDS, saying that learning about Abby’s story really hit home with her at a very personal level. She said that her mother had always been very open with her about the fact that she’d had an abortion in the past but after Ashley told her the news that she’d landed a part in the Unplanned movie her mother became very emotional and said: “You don’t know this but I was there in the clinic, they had called my name and I was in the room to abort you and I got up and walked out.”

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Ashley thanked everyone present for the success of Unplanned in Ireland to date and encouraged them to promote the DVD of the movie when it is released in Ireland. She challenged everyone to reach out to pro-choice friends and encourage them to watch the movie and perhaps start a conversation on the issue.

Some of those attending the conference were open about the fact that they were in favour of abortion until they watched the movie at one of the recent cinema screenings. Some of those who changed their mind met with Ashley at the conference and thanked her for the role she played in the movie and in changing their position on abortion.

While it’s known that the film doesn’t show abortion through rose-tinted glasses, Ashley argues that everything people see in the film is unequivocally true and they could have made it much more graphic, but decided it may take away from the end piece.

“Whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice I think you should challenge your beliefs and know why you believe what you believe, and that’s a very important reason to see the movie,” she says.

“It’s hard to watch. I think that we held back a lot, I think that if we really wanted to go there we could have but we didn’t make a movie for shock and awe. We made a movie to tell someones very personal transformation, someone who worked on the inside, someone who experienced it every single day.

“To have an insider’s voice is a very interesting perspective, again that’s another important reason to see it, to look behind the scenes.”

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Tackling claims of inaccuracy, Ashley said they had expert medical advice from people who had been at the frontline in the abortion industry, with one of the actors in the film being a doctor who performed abortions.

Ashley says: “There are people in the film, one in particular who was a former abortion doctor, we had medical advice on the film, it’s not like we made anything up it was all medically accurate.

“This abortionist performed late-term abortions, he was the one who did these procedures, he more than anyone would know for a fact if we were doing something inaccurate. So he was consulting with us, and there were nurses in the film that were former abortion nurses.”

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The actor and still practicing doctor, Dr Anthony Levatino is a gynaecologist who performed over 1,000 abortions before deciding to become an outspoken pro-life advocate.

“It’s just baffling to me that someone could say it’s medically inaccurate when we have a doctor who performed them in the movie,” she says.

The film is particularly important for people in Ireland to see, she says, considering abortion was made legal after the Eighth Amendment was repealed last year.

“I don’t think the general public knows what happens during an abortion procedure, which was definitely my perception in the states, a lot of people who were in the middle of the road were deeply affected,” she says.

“It seems to me there’s a lot of people here in Ireland that are in the middle of the road, from my understanding the majority of the media is very liberal, and a lot of pro-life and conservative voices are censored, so I think that having a movie that’s controversial will stir up some interest, I encourage everyone to challenge their beliefs.”

When there were protests, notably about a dozen people who stood outside a cinema in Galway when the film was being screened, it was something to which the film producers and actors were accustomed. Ever since the film’s debut it has been plagued with bad press and protests from critics and pro-choice advocates.

When asked whether she was surprised about the reaction in Ireland among some sections of society, Ashley said: “Not really. Especially given what happened in the last year in Ireland, but the protests have always been much smaller than they seem and it always backfires. It gives us more publicity and it raises curiosity for the film, I wasn’t shocked at all.”

The reaction to the film screening around Ireland was positive, she continued, and it has created positive discussion and dialogue among friends, colleagues and families who may have been on the fence or vehemently opposed to each other’s beliefs regarding abortion, many preferring not to broach the subject.

Many quiet pro-life supporters may have been afraid to voice their views, with Ashley saying: “Everything that I’ve seen from people, even who were middle in the road, has been so incredible, a lot of people seem to have reignited their spark. It’s given people something to cling to and a sense of hope. Because I feel like you can feel defeated right now by what’s going on in Ireland and this is something that I think around the world is pushing for the pro-life movement, it’s giving them something tangible to go out and use,” she says.

With the Christmas season coming to a close, it’s always been an important part of Ashley’s life.

Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ and spend quality time with family, “it’s so important”, she says.

“Christmas in particular is such a celebration because we’re celebrating the birth of Christ and everything that he did for us and the freedom and the washing clean that we have because of what he did for us, that’s what I really focus on,” she says.

Laughing, she adds that one of their traditions is that her husband David makes ‘Christmas juice’, which is a blend of fruit juices he adds together and then freezes, “it’s just silly”, she says, but is part of her family’s celebration.

The protests have always been much smaller than they seem and it always backfires”

“We always make different kinds of cookies with our son, he’s nine going on 10. We do the 12 days of Christmas as well,” Ashley says.

“It’s the one time of the year that we really slow down and really focus on family and what Christmas means.

The commercialisation of Christmas has been a hot topic, with many of the Faithful believing the true spirit of the season is lost with the pressure to get expensive presents.

Ashley says: “My favourite gifts to give and to receive are experiences, so a lot of times instead of doing material things we plan experiences because you can’t beat that, you’re spending quality time with the people you love. I like the idea of that more so than a material thing that can be used and thrown away.”

The Christmas season for many, while being viewed as an important time to reconnect with family, is also stressful, with the true meaning often being blurred or even lost altogether. When asked what her Christmas message for Ireland was, now and in the future, Ashley said: “I think it’s the same that any Christian might say, remember the reason for the season, whether you believe or don’t believe it’s still a beautiful story, it’s a really beautiful story for anyone to read. So I think: know the reason that we celebrate Christmas.”