Liberals aren’t satisfied attacking pro-life supporters in traditional media. Now they’ve unveiled a new virtual reality video to help their cause.
“Across the Line,” a pro-abortion virtual reality film shows pro-lifers hurling insults at the viewer as she “walks the line” to access an abortion clinic.
The film requires viewers to put on goggles and walk around a room as the outside and inside of a clinic. It debuted at the Sundance Film Festival 2016 on Jan. 22.
The animation claims to use audio of pro-life protesters chosen for its callous content, to show animated characters yelling obscenities at the viewer. Pro-lifers in the film call the woman, “Wicked jezebel feminist,” and yell, “You shouldn’t have been sleeping with every guy at the club!”
Executive producer Nonny de la Peña, CEO of Emblematic Group, is known by some in the tech world as the "godmother of virtual reality." She calls her project “immersive journalism,” an odd title for “Across the Line” since it is unclear whether the animations bear any similarity to the protesters from the audio.
De la Peña said she wanted to use “virtual reality to put people on scene as real events transpire.”
The film uses a “montage of voices from across the nation,” but selectively leaves out many kinder voices from around the country that every day offer practical and emotional help to women in crisis pregnancies.
“So when you’re having to walk the line, walk the gauntlet, in this piece, you’re being screamed at in a way that women all around the country are screamed at,” said De la Peña. “It’s not 100 percent, but it’s certainly very evocative.”
“I don’t think that people understand how vitriolic the conversation is out there,” she continued.
De la Peña claimed that most of the protesters screaming were white males.
She also referenced a debunked pro-abortion talking point, that low-income women are “reliant on these centers,” saying it was not “appropriate” for those women to have to listen to such abuse.
Planned Parenthood executive vice president Dawn Laguens is co-executive producer commended the experience which she said is an accurate representation of “what it feels like to walk along a line of protesters and have them shout obscene and outrageous things at you while you just try and access reproductive healthcare.”
“We only went and taped actually what happened, the real audio of what people say. None of it is created or made up. So this is actually what women face as they walk into these health centers,” she continued.
Laguens said that some viewers came out of the film in tears, many telling their own stories.
However, even the language of one pro-life sidewalk counselor chosen for the movie is not threatening at all.
“It’s an abortion clinic, ma’am. They’ll do 20 to 30 abortions here today,” the abortion protester says calmly. “Look, there’s a place that’s very safe down the street called Waterleaf. Please let me take you there. Please.”
The woman responds, “I can’t,” and the counselor tries one more time, “Please. Look, I know you’re struggling with something, alright? But I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Although De la Peña is using her piece, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2016 to promote an abortion-on-demand agenda, she makes a good point with regard to the country’s abortion debate.
“Perhaps we can make it into a much more civil conversation.”
