January 2009 – Only a couple of days before her 19th birthday, Jana (name changed) had an abortion. She’s regretted it ever since.

Nineteen years later, she found herself in the waiting room of what she thought was an abortion clinic. Jana, single and without a steady job, was pregnant again and contemplating another abortion.

While waiting to see a counselor, Jana picked up a book and read about a lady who had been in her exact situation. The stories were so similar Jana felt like she was reading about herself.

If that wasn’t strange enough, she was welcomed to the clinic with open arms and genuine love. It didn’t take her long to realize that she was at a pregnancy help center rather than an abortion clinic, which was odd considering Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, referred her to the center.

Jana didn’t recognize it at the time, but God was at work in her life and the life of her unborn child.

She left the center that day firm in her decision of choosing life for her child. She also left with a copy of the movie Bella.

Oscars of life
Bella is an independent movie from Metanoia Films that released in late 2007. It’s the powerful story of José (Eduardo Verástegui), a washed up pro athlete, who reaches out to Nina (Tammy Blanchard), a young waitress who loses her job after finding out she is pregnant. (See AFA Journal 9/07.)

Jana is only one of many lives impacted by this multiple award-winning film that took the prestigious People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival. Unfortunately, it didn’t go on to win an Oscar like the filmmakers had hoped. However, it does have at least 21 “living Oscars” to its name, and it is for these “awards” that the filmmakers are most grateful.

The living Oscars, affectionately known as Bella Babies, represent the babies who have been saved as the result of mothers in crisis pregnancies watching the film and choosing life for their babies like Nina did in the film. It also represents the babies who have been adopted because of the example of love displayed by José in the movie.

“I related to José’s love for the mother and child, …” said Jana’s fiancé, Tommy (name changed). “I understand his thoughts of wanting to give that child a chance and an opportunity where it had none because of the confusion the mother was under. I actually relate to that because I feel that God did that with me and Jana.”

Tommy and Jana, who both have pasts of drinking and drugging, met at Alcoholics Anonymous. Now clean and sober and walking it out through Christian support, they are planning to marry and together raise the soon-to-be born Bobbette Amanda.

For Jana, Bella confirmed her decision to give birth to her baby. For Tommy, Bella inspired him to maintain his relationship with the expectant Jana and present himself as a father to her child.

Tool for life
Saving and changing lives was the purpose of Bella from the beginning. It continues to be the focus of outreach efforts such as the Bella Hero Project founded by Jason Jones, a post-abortive father, pro-life advocate and one of the producers of the film.

“What an incredible tool it would be to give this [movie] to young women who come into pregnancy centers for pregnancy tests,” Jones thought.

But being on the board of a pregnancy center, Jones knew the centers could not afford to buy and distribute the DVDs to their clients. That’s when he decided to raise money so that the DVDs could be donated and used in pregnancy care centers across the country. Jones now travels all over conducting fundraisers and speaking on behalf of the project.

“The movie is the best thing that’s come around since the ultrasound because it touches … hearts,” said Tracy Reynolds, a post-abortive pregnancy care center volunteer who also gives her time to the Bella Hero Project. “It’s almost like an hour and 45 minute counseling session that happens on screen and in a very gentle non-judgmental way. …”

“We had one situation when a client was uncertain as to who the baby’s father was,” explained Cindy Collins, post-abortive director of the Crisis Pregnancy Help Center of Slidell, Louisiana. “We gave her the Bella DVD and asked her to go ahead and view it. When she came back, she had the ultrasound, … and said, ‘I could never have an abortion. …’ We knew it was a direct response to her viewing Bella.”

The center in Slidell is one of 32 centers that make up the initial Bella Hero pilot program that began in September 2008. Thus far, the Slidell center has distributed about 25 DVDs to clients who commit to watching it – one of those being Jana.

As of press time, there were about 70 centers actively participating in the project and another 30 waiting to start.

“Our goal is by Father’s Day of this year to give away two million DVDs,” Jones said.

Reynolds added that the overall goal is to supply over 1,000 pregnancy care centers with the DVD.

“We really want to reach as many women and as many centers as possible,” she added. “In addition, we are also using it as a tool in schools.”

Culture of life
A speaking team, made up of Jones, Reynolds and Ed Vizenor, has evolved from the Bella Hero Project. The speakers visit high schools and colleges, share their testimonies and give away copies of the DVD. One high school is even considering using the movie as part of its curriculum.

“Bella has given us access to places that we would have never otherwise been allowed into,” Jones said.

In fact, at the time this article was written, Verástegui was in China speaking out against the country’s one-child policy and forced abortions.

“Bella gets us to speak to Communist Party officials in China and to public school children in Iowa,” Jones explained. “It’s sort of like the magic key that gets us into everywhere to talk about the dignity of the human person and of life.”

Being proactive like this is crucial to building a culture of life in today’s society, and according to Jones, it involves civic duty on a daily basis.

“If you go and vote every two years or every four years, you’re not fulfilling your civic duty. … It’s about having that daily civic habit; it’s about taking responsibility for the laws of your land,” he explained.

Jones believes citizens are responsible for the abortion clinics, strip clubs and porn shops that fill their communities.

“The fact that you’re reading an AFA publication means you’re even more responsible, [but it also means] that you’re living up to that responsibility, …” he added. “If we’re going to have a culture of that life that respects women, the unborn child and the sacrament of marriage, it’s going to be up to us and no one else.”

Fight for life
One way to take responsibility and become active in the fight for life is by participating in the Bella Hero Project as well as volunteering at pregnancy help centers and supporting them financially, since most function on bare-bones budgets.

“Consider contacting your local pregnancy resource center and ask them if they know about the Bella Hero Project,” Collins challenged.

If not, introduce them to it. Also, consider making a tax-deductible donation to the project. One DVD costs $20, which includes shipping and handling. None of the donations go toward salaries, since volunteers lead the project.

Donors can designate DVDs to be sent to a specific center, or they can make a general donation that will supply DVDs for a center that is already part of the project.

Each participating center receives a Behind Bella coffee-table book (See below.) and a packet that contains a brochure, introductory letter, training materials and client questions.

“What I’m expecting is that we’re going to surpass the 21 babies [saved] from the initial run [of the film] because we are going to have so many more opportunities to get this into women’s hands,” Reynolds said.

“Lives are being touched in so many ways. Not just touched but saved, and the power of media to do that is just absolutely beautiful,” Vizenor said in an episode of The Justice Foundation’s TV series, Faces of Abortion, produced by Reynolds, co-hosted by Collins.

“We’re seeing the power of media,” Collins added.

“I don’t know of any other movie that has had such an impact on saving lives, …” Reynolds said. “Based on what happened with the election and what’s going on in the political and legislative climate, I really do believe that the issue of life is going to be about changing minds and hearts. That’s what Bella does.”  

BEHIND BELLA
More remarkable stories are shared in Behind Bella: The Amazing Stories of Bella and the Lives It’s Changed, written by award-winning journalist Tim Drake and published by Ignatius Press.

In the book that’s illustrated with stunning photography, Drake writes about the many lives impacted by the movie Bella and transformed by God.

“Working on this book and learning of the film’s impact on others was profoundly rewarding,” Drake said. “My own life was threatened by abortion in the womb, so working on this project was in many ways a confirmation that every life makes a difference, including my own.

“Had I been aborted,” he continued, “I wouldn’t be married and have five children of my own, and readers wouldn’t be reading Behind Bella or this [article].”

Drake’s prayer is that the life-saving work of God through the film will continue through the book, which Drake believes is the perfect companion to the movie. In fact, it’s already being placed as a resource in pregnancy care centers.

“If the book could help save a life, it would all be worthwhile,” Drake said.

To learn more about the movie and book, visit www.bellamoviesite.com and www.ignatius.com.