Washington D.C., Sep 1, 2009 / 16:33 pm
An upcoming pro-life documentary named “Blood Money” aims to shake the viewer “to the very core” and expose the “inconvenient truth” about the money involved in the abortion industry. The documentary interviews pro-life leaders, former abortionists, and women who have been harmed by abortion.
One of the interviewees featured in the movie trailer, Carol Everett, was a part owner of several abortion clinics in the Dallas area who has repented of her involvement in abortion.
In the Blood Money trailer she talks of the unsavory practices her clinics were involved in.
“Our goal was three to five abortions from every girl from the ages 13 to 18,” she says.
Everett describes a plan to “sell abortions” by using sex education to “break down” the natural modesty of children, separate them from their parents and their values, and establish the abortion provider as the sex expert in young people’s lives.
“So they would turn to us when we would give them a low-dose birth control pill they would get pregnant on, or a defective condom,” she says.
Later in the trailer she remarks: “I recognized that I’d been involved in the deaths of over 35,000 babies.”
The film is being directed by David Kyle. Its executive producer is John Zipp.
Speaking in a Tuesday e-mail interview, Kyle told CNA that the message of Blood Money is that abortion “destroys lives.”
“Not only that of the baby, but of the mother, father and families that have to deal with the consequences of what is sold to them as a quick fix. We then tie in the monetary gains that are being made in the name of helping women. This is an industry that when the product proves to be defective, you don't get a refund.”
He explained that the business of abortion was not the filmmakers’ initial focus.
“The original title of the film was going to be ‘The American Holocaust’. We had set out to present the truth about abortion, from the destruction of the human being, to the effect it has on the women that make the choice to abort,” he said.
During interviews, the “monetary aspects” of the abortion industry kept repeatedly surfacing.
“So while we still cover in part some of our original idea we honed in on the money that is made on the slaughter of the unborn,” he explained.
He and John Zipp had first developed the concept in 2004 because they felt that no one else was talking about the nature and effects of abortion.
“It does come up at election time or when there is opening on the Court, but only in general terms. We believed that the mass media doesn't want to go into details because they know if they did, more people would oppose it.”
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Kyle and Zipp thought a documentary would be the best way to reach a large audience and to force a conversation on abortion.
He explained that most of the film is testimony of individuals involved in the abortion industry like Everett or former abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson, or those who have been harmed by their abortion decision.
Pro-life leaders like Norma McCorvey, Fr. Frank Pavone, Dr. Alveda King, and Fr. Thomas Euteneuer were interviewed for the documentary and have at least one appearance in the film.
Kyle explained that he had no background in film, describing Blood Money’s development as a “crash course” in filmmaking. The filmmakers hired a professional director of photography, Jeff Butler of Cabin One Productions, to do the camera work. They also brought Roman Jaquez on board to edit and improve the film.
Asked about his decision to use the documentary genre Kyle said, “I think pro-lifers underuse filmmaking period.” In fact, Kyle said he could only name “The Silent Scream” as another pro-life documentary that he has seen.
Listing aspects of abortion that should be covered in future documentaries, he named the humanity of the baby, the harm abortion does to women and the sale of parts from aborted babies’ remains.
“Film is a way to reach a wide audience with the values you want to pass on. If they are done with an eye on quality I believe people would go and see them and could compete with the liberal attitude of Hollywood,” he stated.
Kyle told CNA the makers of “Blood Money” are planning at least one follow-up film focusing on the women interviewed for the documentary.
“We have so much compelling testimony that did not make it in this film,” he said.
“Blood Money” has no scheduled release date, since the filmmakers still need to find a distribution company that will “take the chance on something this controversial.” He said some distributors are interested in seeing the film upon its completion, which Kyle predicted would come at the end of September.