“What about when a woman cannot afford to have a child?”  

“Who is going to help her once the child is born?”  

“What about the hospital bills?”  

These are questions debated every day on college campuses when it comes to not only the broad issue of abortion but also the capability of women and the strength of the family. These themes are woven into the new movie Unsung Hero, which is based on a true story and firmly built on the idea of family, the power of mothers, and the value of life.  

“When David Smallbone’s successful music company collapses, he moves his family from Australia to the United States in search of a brighter future,” the film’s synopsis reads. “With nothing more than their six children, their suitcases, and their love of music, David (for KING + COUNTRY’s Joel Smallbone) and his pregnant wife Helen (Daisy Betts) set out to rebuild their lives from the ground up. Based on a remarkable true story, a mum’s faith stands against all odds; and inspires her husband and children to hold onto theirs.” 

From Living Well to Pinching Pennies 

Unsung Hero follows Smallbone’s family of eight as they have everything they could dream of in Australia: a large house, a successful career, and a supportive family. All that changes when Australia’s economy tanks. The father and head of the home, also Australian music producer, David Smallbone, has had a lousy career season and has lost half a million dollars. Amid this, his wife, Helen, surprises him with the news of a seventh child. This news completely shocks and worries David, which Helen realizes, and David is forced to tell her the truth regarding their financial situation. This causes his family to lose their home to foreclosure and move to the United States to try to start a new business, leaving behind everything they have ever known.   

Now, they move to America with very little to their name and are immediately hit with hardships. At this time, Helen is around about three months pregnant and fully supporting her husband in every way she can. She homeschools the children so that they can all help with working in the community for money, mowing yards, or cleaning houses.  

Embracing Life, No Matter the Circumstances 

It’s at this point that many abortion advocates would’ve encouraged Helen to have an abortion. After all, they’re broke and it’s another mouth to feed. However, given her determination to support her family, it never seems to be a thought, and the circumstance brings her family even closer. They find a church family, and although they do not tell them about their situation, their church family finds out and becomes a village.  

While the media may not cover it, so many resources exist for women to embrace life, including databases like Standing With You, which starts as a virtual village that connects women to local help, love, and support.  

We see a family that is down on their luck and has nothing. They have an empty house they can barely afford and a jar full of change, which is nothing to write home about. Despite the odds, the community and the church pull together to help this family, giving them furniture, a car, Christmas gifts, paying their hospital bills, and more.   

By the movie’s end, the oldest daughter, Rebecca Smallbone, or Christian artist Rebecca St James, successfully breaks through the music industry. Her father becomes her manager and provides for the family again.  

Obliterating the Abortion Argument 

Their story is filled with trials that abortion advocates would see as a reason to choose abortion, but Unsung Hero inspires the virtuous in all of us, whether pro-life or pro-abortion. Any decent person can praise the virtuousness of a strong woman, a humble, hardworking father, and an inspiring family story about overcoming adversity. 

It’s only when people stand for an unvirtuous case, such as the taking of a preborn life, that we criticize the virtuous – because it exposes the indecency of standing for the atrocity of abortion.  

Abortion will never be virtuous, no matter how it’s spun and how much we convince ourselves it is. It cannot be truly and rightly justified. But choosing life always can be, and when people see it, like the church community around the Smallbones, there’s a village ready to help. Abortion vendors like Planned Parenthood will tell women they’re alone – the pro-life movement will say to them they have help and hope. Abortion supporters will call a preborn baby a problem – the pro-life movement sees it as a precious, individual life full of potential. They’ll say women are the victims of their preborn child – the pro-life movement empowers women to be heroes.  

“This is so much more than just our family,” said Joel Smallbone, who plays his father in Unsung Hero, in an interview with Michael Knowles. “The real unsung heroes of this film are moms. The real unsung hero is family, and we’re just excited to make family and moms potentially the number one conversation in the United States…” 

No matter the abortion stance, everyone should see this film. Even though Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 60% approval rating, the audience score was 100%. We hope expecting mothers torn between life and death for their children will see this and choose life amidst any difficulty.  

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