Hollywood actors say science has changed abortion argument: ‘ I believe in the sanctity of life’
ORLANDO, Fla. — Several actors from the new film "Roe v. Wade" released nationwide on Friday shared their resistance to abortion in interviews with The Christian Post at the film's premiere.
“Roe v. Wade” features a star-studded cast, including Hollywood actors Jon Voight, Robert Davi, Corbin Bernsen, John Schneider, Stacey Dash and Nick Loeb.
The film is based on the lesser-known history of "what happened from 1966 through 1973" that led to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision declaring state laws banning abortion unconstitutional.
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Davi, an award-winning actor, screenwriter and filmmaker, played Justice William Joseph Brennan Jr., who was regarded as one of the country's most influential justices on the court.
"We have a hallmark Supreme Court decision that affected people in our nation and around the world. When you think about it, there are 60 million lives that were aborted. I don't think all of those were necessary," he told CP at the film's red carpet premiere that was held at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Feb. 26.
"To me, the film is about seeing how that decision was made and peeking under the Supreme Court justices’ thought processes and how they influenced each other,” he said.
Brennan was solidly in favor of Roe following the first court date on the matter, held on Dec. 13, 1971. The final decision was issued on Jan. 22, 1973, after the majority voted in favor of Roe to strike down state laws restricting abortion.
The feature film tells "the untold story of how people lied, how the media lied, and how the courts were manipulated" to legalize abortion nationwide, filmmaker and actor Nick Loeb, who plays abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson in the film, previously said of the film.
Once considered the “abortion king” for reportedly performing over 70,000 abortions, Nathanson would come to realize the value of the unborn and walk away from the industry.
Davi believes Nathanson's transformation speaks volumes about the level of ignorance people once had concerning abortion.
"The major thing that Nick Loeb did was his character, Nathan, who was the major abortion [doctor], by the end of this film he made a big transition. So that's a big story,” Davi told CP. “I think that's what was the driving factor. Let's see how the public is able to respond to it. I'm sure it will be interestingly controversial.”
Davi revealed that while researching his character, he discovered that Brennan voted in favor of Roe following conversations with his wife. He was a Roman Catholic who then became pro-abortion and used the argument of a woman's right to privacy because they “didn't have the science at the time.”
"It's a very difficult decision for women and for men to make that decision. I believe in the sanctity of life,” the “Die Hard” star declared. “People talk about the backdoor abortion issue and a lot of different things, but I think it's necessary to have a real moral look at the issue.
“Because we didn't have the science back then. So now people that are seeing the science are having a little bit of a different feeling, especially from the younger generation,” he added.
Jalesia Franklina McQueen, co-executive producer for “Roe v. Wade” who also has a cameo appearance in the film, echoed Davi’s sentiments.
"I also had an abortion when I was 19. I'll tell you, when I watched this film I almost cried because it brought back a lot of memories for me and a lot of regret,” McQueen said to CP.
"This is a very important issue and the biggest thing is how it's being portrayed. It's being portrayed like these are just clumps of cells, and they're not human and people could do whatever they want to them,” she stressed. “It's really just not the case. The science is all for them being human lives.”
McQueen said women have been convinced that it's empowering to have an abortion, but she believes it's “really the opposite.”
“I was pro-choice for a lot of years in my life. I had my abortion, and then I ended up having my two children through IVF,” she said.
McQueen is an attorney and partner at her law firm McQueen Kuenzel LLC. She's also co-founder and president of Embryo Defense. She's also served as Loeb's attorney in Louisiana and California in his own embryo custody case.
The actress said her own experience with abortion and an embryo custody case is what changed her mind on the issue of life. She now has 13 years old twins and another child with Down syndrome.
"All of this turned me to pro-life because of my life experiences, basically, and I couldn't imagine getting rid of the children I have today. And I still think about the child that I aborted years ago.
"Sometimes people can't put things into context, and I think this movie really does that. I think it's a fair movie, and I know that Nick Loeb researched this wholly,” she said.
CP also caught up with Loeb at the premiere, where he said that he really wants the film to reveal how powerful the media has been in pushing the pro-choice narrative.
"I think there are a lot of parallels [to today], and I think it's really interesting. We have this whole notion today of fake media and fake news, and people don't realize that's been existing since the beginning of time.” Loeb said. “Even back in the '70s, fake news was rampant. And if you see our film, essentially the pro-abortion side utilized fake media to move their agenda. They came out and even admitted it years later; they completely made up stuff to get their agenda passed.
A fact check resource on the "Roe v. Wade" movie's website revealed that they also lied about the number of women who died each year from illegal abortions. According to Nathanson, the actual number of women who died was 250, but the number they fed to the media was up to 10,000. The false narrative was spread by willing news media companies that never questioned or confirmed the data they were being given.
"You can actually check all the facts of all the scenes that you may believe we made up,” Loeb said of the information they provided in the film.
As previously reported by CP, the film encountered several obstacles, including Facebook banning their ads as well as losing cast members who opposed the film's mission.
Despite many setbacks, the film is now in theaters nationwide. For more information, visit "Roe v. Wade" movie.com.
