Abby Johnson says Americans have the power to 'reshape the brand'
Abby Johnson
Planned Parenthood is the big gorilla in America's abortion industry, the billion dollar a year operation that gets some $300 million plus annually from taxpayers, the nightmare for pro-life activists that is responsible for a sizeable number of the million-plus abortions done every year in the nation.
Now a former executive for the operation says there is a way to defeat the behemoth: Convince the workers, clerks, receptionists, nurses, even doctors, that what they are doing is wrong. And do it without arguing.
The words of advice come from Abby Johnson, whose new book "unPLANNED" is launching on Tuesday. And she knows. She was a PP executive, and suddenly realized she no longer could do what she had been doing.
She holds a B.S. in psychology from Texas A&M University and an M.A. in counseling from Sam Houston State University. She works now with the national 40 Days for Life pro-life campaign and lives with her husband, Doug, and young daughter in Texas.
It was her work for years for Planned Parenthood, however, that gives her credentials to talk about the abortion industry leader.
She was hired by Planned Parenthood in 2005 and progressed to the position of community services director and health educator, where she served as liaison between the community and Planned Parenthood as media correspondent. Later promoted to health center director, Johnson ran both the family planning and abortion programs.
In 2009, however, she suddenly left Planned Parenthood and joined the local Coalition for Life as a volunteer.
"For whatever reason I was called in to help. My job was to hold the ultrasound probe on the abdomen," she said at the time. "When I looked at the screen, I saw a baby on the screen. She was about 13 weeks pregnant at the time. I saw a full side profile. I saw face to feet on the ultrasound.
"I saw the probe going into the woman's uterus. At that moment I saw the baby moving, trying to get away from the probe," she continued.
"I thought, 'It's fighting for its life.' I thought, 'It's life. It's alive.'
"I dropped the ultrasound probe. I scrambled and put [the probe] back in place. So many things were going through my mind. I was thinking about my daughter, who's three," she said at the time.
"I was just thinking, 'What am I doing here? What am I doing here? There was life in here and now there's not.'"
Johnson later was mentioned by name during the U.S. House debate over an amendment designed to limit taxpayer funding of abortions.
In remarks on the House floor, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said, "Self-described as 'extremely pro-choice,' but now pro-life, Abby Johnson said she watched an unborn child 'crumple' before her very eyes as the infant was vacuumed and dismembered by a suction device 20-30 times more powerful than a household vacuum cleaner. 'I could see the baby try to move away … I just thought what am I doing … never again.'"
Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson with Coalition for Life Director Shawn Carney (photo: Coalition for Life)
She then was sued by Planned Parenthood over information she allegedly had, but the case later was dropped.
Her book talks about the heart-stopping personal drama and the spiritual transformation that happened. It tells her story from both sides of the abortion clinic property line.
She told WND in an interview that she hopes people who fight for the lives of the unborn will be encouraged by her words.
"For people who have done this for many years, it can be discouraging. People go off to the sidewalks; they may go out there for years and think they maybe are not making a difference," she said.
"I want them to put that book down [after reading it] and have them feel like they are making a difference. Their work does make a difference, even though they may not see it until later," she said.
She said her own realization that she no longer could work with the abortions of Planned Parenthood came not in an instant, but over the course of a period of time.
"It was all very shocking," she said. "The fact that everything I had believed was being turned on its head… I was figuring out that so many things I had believed were, in fact, a lie."
She said she had to recognize her livelihood had to be changed, she had to give up that income, that she needed to relearn a lot.
And that is the key to changing Planned Parenthood, she said.
"I think that the people who work in the abortion industry, I think they're good people inside. I think I was a good person. I think that people are just incredibly misguided. They believe they are helping women. Doctors believe they are helping women, they believe they are saving the lives of women," she told WND, "by providing safe and legal abortions.
"Many of the people who work in the movement go to church every Sunday," she said. "It's so easy to justify sin. We do it all the time. None of us is immune. It's Satan's deception, I believe."
So undermining abortion, and Planned Parenthood, takes a relationship with those workers, she said.
"We cannot come at them with a spirit of debate or argumentation," she said. "Someone told me, 'win an argument, lose a soul.' That's absolutely true. They believe they are doing the right thing in their heart. So we have to be sensitive when we're talking to them."
And she said people need to be ready to respond, because those workers who eventually decide to abandon abortion will need other employment, other goals.
She said it is the agenda of Planned Parenthood: to reach out to children and develop a relationship so they later seek contraception, and eventually abortion, that is the enemy.
"That's what we want to fight against. We want to be reshaping that brand so that Planned Parenthood is not the first thing that pops into their mind," she said.
Johnson earlier talked about her experiences on the TV show "Facing Life Head-on," an episode that also featured WND Managing Editor David Kupelian, author of the "Marketing of Evil" as well as "How Evil Works."
Johnson actually may be getting some help with her work, too, as U.S. Rep. Mike Pence just this week proposed a bill that would revoke federal taxpayer funding for the Planned Parenthood abortion business.
The Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act would make certain taxpayer money from the federal government for family planning wouldn't be used for abortions.
"It is morally wrong to end an unborn human life by abortion. It is also morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life Americans and use them to promote abortion at home or abroad," said Pence, who has been joined by more than 100 other House members in support of the plan.
Johnson's book is getting unqualified praise from many leaders of the pro-life effort.
"Think love and kindness can't make a difference in the abortion debate? Read Abby Johnson's story and find out how a pro-life ministry's peaceful and respectful witness forever changed the heart of this former Planned Parenthood clinic director," said Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family.
Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said, "'Unplanned' is a powerful and compelling testimony of the power of prayer and love. A story of courage, conviction, and conversion, the book will draw you into Abby's life and her journey as her eyes are opened to the truth."
"In 'Unplanned,' Abby shares intimate details of the happenings that ultimately led her to leave her career as a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic director for 'the other side of the fence,' where she now ardently advocates for the rights of the unborn. If you have ever peacefully protested and prayed for an end to abortion, Abby's story will provide tremendous insights – and encourage you never to give up," said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.
Read more: Former exec: Here's how to defeat Planned Parenthood
Contact: Bob Unruh
Source: WorldNetDaily.com
Publish Date: January 8, 2011
