OPINION:
An ardent abortion supporter, “Battleground” director Cynthia Lowen certainly did not set out to make a documentary that positively featured the pro-life movement, and yet that is exactly what she did. After investing more than two years into the behind-the-scenes world of the pro-life generation and Students for Life America (SFLA), the production is a picture worth a thousand words in explaining not only why the pro-life movement is winning, but also why we will prevail in the days ahead … much to the dismay of mainstream critics.
Indeed, Film Threat’s review noted that Ms. Lowen presented the pro-life movement “without spin” to such a degree that “some research was necessary to conclude that ’Battleground’ is not a promotional piece for anti-choice.” That backhanded compliment aside, the review observed Ms. Lowen’s portrayal of the pro-life movement was involuntarily flattering yet “a critical document for understanding women on the ground doing the heavy lifting in the reproductive rights struggle from both sides of the issue.”
The New York Times agreed. Columnist Michelle Goldberg noted that Students for Life of America, one of three pro-life groups featured, was a tour de force as hundreds of our activists were showcased as we allowed the Emmy-nominated and award-winning documentarian to follow our engagement. Our college-aged students and professional staff were featured one on one, speaking out boldly on how SFLA informed their worldview and why they wanted to make a difference in their communities and on their campuses.
Ms. Goldberg noted: “These aren’t the people regularly standing outside of abortion clinics. … They are, rather, savvy lobbyists and organizers, and the documentary is in part a window into how they won.”
So, what did the film capture that shocked media outlets into thinking “Battleground” might be pro-life-made? It was the same thing that stunned Ms. Lowen when she was making the film: The youth, diversity, strength and strategy of the pro-life movement are often ignored by mainstream media outlets.
When asked particularly about SFLA in a recent interview, Ms. Lowen stated: “Going into making this film, I had a lot of those notions that the anti-abortion movement was … old white men. I was really surprised to learn in making this film that the anti-abortion movement, they’re young women by and large. … You hear these young people saying a lot, “We are the post-Roe generation,” and they’re taking on this identity of coming of age in a post-Roe America.”
Ms. Lowen reiterated in another interview: “I wasn’t expecting … to see a world of young anti-abortion people who are confronting a lot of those stereotypes or preconceived notions I had about who the anti-abortion movement is. Seeing young college-aged women was surprising.”
Ms. Lowen’s previous work included two films called “Bully” and “Netizens,” both of which feature unempowered females being belittled. Perhaps that was the perspective Ms. Lowen had of pro-life women before she began working on this film — that we are weak, oppressed by the patriarchy, and bullied into our pro-life opinions.
Instead, “Battleground” showed the vibrancy of the real pro-life movement — one that is “wider than the media usually portrays it,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote, full of “sincere, media-savvy, well-organized women” and students that are “passionate and enthusiastic” about life-affirming laws.
“Battleground” was a lovely mosaic of the pro-life movement. Though we all share one goal, protecting life in law and in service, we truly have a big tent movement made up of different races, political ideologies, religions, ages and sexes, though the leadership of the pro-life movement is overwhelmingly female.
There are, of course, attempts in the film to frame the pro-life movement in a negative manner that should not be overlooked, though they are rather easy to ignore. The production is checkered with interviews with pro-abortion leaders such as Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson who appear in talking-head mode repeating familiar points.
Even that format told a story as you watched hundreds of vibrant pro-life women do the work of changing hearts and minds, while tired abortion-supporting “experts” sat behind closed doors saying they are wrong.
Meanwhile, from campuses to communities to capitals nationwide, it’s the pro-life movement’s commitment to engage with those who disagree with us that is our secret sauce, notes Goldberg, who wrote: “I fear that some abortion-rights activists are learning the wrong lessons from their enemies’ triumph. … This is quite different from what I’ve seen in the pro-choice movement, where activists frequently act as if those who don’t agree with them on everything aren’t worth engaging with.”
This year, SFLA and SFLAction will reach 1 million millennial and Generation Z Americans with pro-life conversation on the human rights issue of our day. If you want to see what that might look like, see “Battleground,” now in theaters.
• Kristan Hawkins is president of Students for Life of America & Students for Life Action with more than 1,300 groups on educational campuses in all 50 states. Follow her @KristanHawkins or subscribe to her podcast, “Explicitly Pro-Life. ”
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