“Should we not be entitled to all the information, regardless of whether we want kids or not, regardless of whether or not that information is at odds with cultural norm?”

That is the question that is central to the documentary “Hush.”  This documentary looks at the truth about the physical and psychological damage abortion causes.  It highlights the misinformation told by abortion center workers and addresses how the medical community is complicit in hiding the truth.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film is the journey writer-director and narrator Punam Kumar Gill takes as she explores these questions.  Punam starts the film identifying herself as a feminist, and admits she started this film with a pro-abortion viewpoint that informed consent laws are meant to scare women into not having an abortion.  As she dug deeper into the issue, she found more and more evidence of the medical community suppressing studies that showed a linkage between breast cancer and abortion, hiding research that shows a correlation between surgical abortions and pre-term births, and attempting to minimize the stories of women who have had serious psychological problems after an abortion.

Punam’s journey became more personal when, while doing her research, she tragically lost her first child to a miscarriage at 32 weeks. As she states, “When it’s your life at stake, it’s amazing how the information suddenly means something.”  By the end of the movie, Punam’s position has changed, and while she still identifies as “pro-choice,” she concedes that women deserve to have all the answers, and not a bunch of lies, when making important decisions that will impact their long-term health.

The film can be purchased through the website http://hushfilm.com/.  It is a great resource for pro-lifers to make sure they have all the information they need…which is the point of the informed consent laws to begin with!

“No matter how dark it is, all you need is a little ray of hope to overcome it.”

This quote by Indian film maker Anurag Prakash Ray has been at the forefront of my mind the past few weeks.  We’ve certainly experienced our fair share of darkness recently.  Between the senseless violence and death both overseas and even in our own cities, and the vitriolic rhetoric that comes with an election season, it is easy to lose hope and despair.  It would be easy to give up and ask “what difference can I make”?  It would be easy to focus on the darkness and miss the little rays of hope.

Instead, I encourage everyone to focus on those little rays of hope.

Focus on the women heading into an abortion center but choosing life after talking to a pro-life sidewalk counselor.

Focus on the women visiting a pro-life pregnancy resource center and finding out about the resources they need to choose life.

Focus on the abortion centers being forced to close because of lack of business.

Focus on legislative victories such as HB1948, which would ban the brutal practice of dismemberment abortion and change the legal cut-off for abortions from six months to five months in Pennsylvania, moving through the legislative process.

Focus on the parents who have chosen life for their child, despite doctor’s prognoses of challenges like Down syndrome, and recommendations to kill their child.

I recognize sometimes that’s sometimes easier said than done.  When every time we turn on the news we are faced with news of another shooting, or more death and destruction, it is easy to think we’ve lost and it is hopeless and not worth trying.

However, I leave you with this anonymous quote: “Sometimes life seems a dark tunnel with no light at the end, but if you just keep moving forward, you will end up in a better place.”

Our challenge is to keep moving forward through the dark tunnel of a culture of death. We need to continue praying as if it is up to God and working as if it is up to us. If we do that, and focus on those rays of light, we will end up in a better place where life is valued.