WASHINGTON (BP) -- Mega popstar Justin Bieber's mom hopes to raise $10 million for crisis pregnancy centers around the world with a new pro-life short film, "Crescendo."
Pattie Mallette, an outspoken Christian, said the cause was personal to her because a crisis pregnancy center helped her when she got pregnant with Bieber at 17.
Mallette has partnered with Movie to Movement to promote Crescendo, a short film based in the 18th century that deals with abortion. They hope to host 1,000 screenings of the film starting Feb. 28, with Mallette, one of the film's executive producers, sharing her story at some of them. Eduardo Verastegui, who starred in and produced the 2006 pro-life film "Bella," is the other executive producer.
Mallette grew up in a broken home in Stratford, Ontario, according to her 2012 autobiography "Nowhere but Up." Her alcoholic father left when she was just 2, and she was sexually abused from age 3 to 14. She said the abandonment issues and abuse led her to drugs, theft and depression in her teens. She tried to commit suicide by throwing herself in front of a bus when she was 17, and was sent to a mental ward, where she became a Christian. Afterward, she returned to her past life and soon found herself pregnant. Many friends told her to abort her baby, but she kept him because of her faith.
"I knew that I had to do what it took," she wrote. "I just couldn't abort him."
Her parents kicked her out of the house and she stayed at a home for pregnant women. She gave birth to Bieber in 1994, and lived off welfare and the paychecks from part-time jobs. She finished high school and began to study web design in college. At the same time, Bieber earned money singing on the streets and playing the drums and guitar. When he was 13, Hollywood came calling after his YouTube videos went viral. Mallette and Bieber soon moved to the U.S. to pursue his career. The pop singer is now the third most powerful celebrity in the world, according to Forbes Magazine.
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Mallette's pro-life stance has also influenced her son. Bieber caused controversy in 2011 when he said in a Rolling Stone interview, "I really don't believe in abortion. I think is a human. It's like killing a baby."
Mallette said she hopes Crescendo and the fundraising for crisis pregnancy centers will "encourage young women all over the world, just like me, to let them know that there is a place to go, people who will take care of you and a safe home to live in if you are pregnant and think you have nowhere else to turn."
Angela Lu writes for World On Campus (WorldonCampus.com), where this story first appeared.
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