orphan-posterRep. Michele Bachmann is one of a handful of Congress members who have expressed concerns to Warner Brothers about the summer horror movie Orphan, set to be released in theaters on Friday. Bachmann and her colleagues said in a letter to the studio last week that the film’s portrayal of adopted children is harmful. The film has even prompted a boycott campaign by adoption advocates.

In a letter to Warner Brothers Chairman and CEO Barry M. Meyer, Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Reps. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., John Boozman, R-Ark., and Danny Davis, D-Ill., wrote that the film’s depiction of adopted children was inaccurate and destructive.

“[M]ost adoptive parents would take issue with the movie’s message that an adopted child is not ‘one’s own’ since the only distinction between biological and adopted children is how they came to be a member of a family,” said the letter signed by Bachmann, who this month was appointed to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s Advisory Board.

Particularly, the members of Congress objected to a line in the movie’s trailer: “It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own.”

Warner Brothers says they’ve removed that line.

The trailer:

Partial text of the letter sent to Warner Brothers:

While we understand the movie may be intended as a far-fetched thriller, its trailer contains images and messages about adopted youth that are inaccurate.

…While these children often come from troubled families, they have the ability to form healthy relationships, achieve in school and succeed in life when given the opportunity. Having met with hundreds of these young people as part of our advocacy for change, we can personally attest to how incredibly strong, loving, and promising they each are.

As almost any adoptive parent will tell you, the immediate sense of love and belonging that exists between a child and adoptive parents is on par in every way with the relationship formed between a parent and their biological child. Furthermore, most adoptive parents would take issue with the movie’s message that an adopted child is not ‘one’s own’ since the only distinction between biological and adopted children is how they came to be a member of a family.

Therefore, we encourage you to continue to take steps to help us in conveying the positive and more accurate messages about US foster children and orphans worldwide outlined above. We look forward to your continued partnership in advancing this important issue.