Planned Parenthood hit out against the Ana de Armas film “Blonde,” claiming it contributes to “anti-abortion propaganda” for the way it portrays a talking fetus.
In a Hollywood Reporter interview, Planned Parenthood official Caren Spruch said the creators of “Blonde” “contribute to anti-abortion propaganda and stigmatize people’s health care decisions instead.”
In “Blonde,” Marilyn Monroe is shown having two abortions against her will, and they are dramatized by a CGI-rendered fetus.
The personified fetus is shown on screen asking Monroe, “You won’t hurt me this time, will you?”
“As film and TV shapes many people’s understanding of sexual and reproductive health, it’s critical these depictions accurately portray women’s real decisions and experiences,” Spruch said.
Monroe never publicly revealed she had an abortion, but at the time of her gigantic success, it was commonplace for movie studios to arrange for female actors “to take a ‘rest’ or be out for an ‘appendectomy’ while the studio arranged for them to terminate a pregnancy,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
‘BLONDE’ STAR ANA DE ARMAS STUNS AS MARILYN MONROE IN NEWLY RELEASED PHOTOS
While the film has seen backlash for its hyper-sexualization of Monroe, Spruch took greater issue with the “fetus depicted to look like a fully formed baby … Planned Parenthood respects artistic license and freedom. However, false images only serve to reinforce misinformation and perpetuate stigma around sexual and reproductive health care.”
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Abortion has been a major political issue in the months since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In an interview with The Wrap, director Andrew Dominik denied any underlying political message related to that scene.
“You see it constantly time and again that she’s reacting to a story that she’s carrying inside her,” Dominik said. “And I think sort of this desire to look at ‘Blonde’ through this Roe v. Wade lens is everybody else doing the same thing. They’ve got a certain agenda where they feel like the freedoms of women are being compromised, and they look at ‘Blonde’ and they see a demon, but it’s not really about that. I think it’s very difficult for people to step outside of the stories they carry inside themselves and see things of their own volition. And I think that’s really what the movie is about. The dangers of that. But you know, it’s difficult for people to be able to hold two things in their mind at once. It’s either black or white.”