Interviewing Abby Johnson
By the Editorial Board
Abby Johnson worked for Planned Parenthood for eight years, working her way up through the ranks to become the clinic director in Bryan, Texas. She was Planned Parenthood's Employee of the Year in 2008 but she walked away from her job after witnessing the abortion of a 13-week-old fetus during an ultrasound-guided abortion. She left Planned Parenthood and instantly became a national news headline for her defection, which led to a pro-life speaking career. In 2012, she founded And Then There Were None, the only ministry in the nation that helps abortion workers leave their jobs and find new ones out of the industry. To date, she has helped over 530 abortion workers quit. She also founded ProLove Ministries and LoveLine in the fall of 2019. Her bestselling book, Unplanned, was made into a feature film that debuted in theaters nationwide March 2019 under the same name. She and her husband, Doug, have eight children. We could not be more excited to bring you our exclusive interview with Abby Johnson, where we cover her pro-life advocacy, support for our President, views of modern feminism, and more.
Tell us more about how you initially got involved with Planned Parenthood. Given your conservative upbringing, why did you decide to volunteer for the organization?
Abortion wasn’t a topic of discussion in our household, although I did grow up pro-life. So, when I was asked to volunteer for Planned Parenthood during college because they were all about women’s rights and making abortion “safe, legal, and rare,” I thought I would be helping women. Most people who start working in the abortion industry do it for the same reasons— we think we are helping women.
Over time, you worked your way up to the Director of a Planned Parenthood clinic. However, you resigned shortly after witnessing an ultrasound-guided abortion. Give us insight into your experience watching this abortion. How did this one event change not only your outlook on abortion but the trajectory of your career?
It was at that very moment that I saw the baby on the ultrasound screen that I realized there is life in the womb, and I was playing a direct part in ending those lives. I facilitated more than 22,000 abortions during my time working at Planned Parenthood, including two of my own. I was on my way up the ranks at Planned Parenthood, having won Employee of the Year the year before I quit. But, when I was faced with the truth that life existed in the womb, I had to make a decision, and I chose to quit my job.
Planned Parenthood has ruthlessly attacked your story. Do you believe Planned Parenthood is trying to silence you? What do you believe Planned Parenthood is trying to hide?
If you read my book, Unplanned, you’ll see that it was Planned Parenthood who gave me my public speaking career in the first place. They sued me after I quit and tried to put a gag order on me, so I couldn’t talk about what happened. By that time, I had already lined up another job and was ready to start when Planned Parenthood sent out a national news release about the lawsuit. My phone started ringing off the hook with reporters and producers wanting to talk to me. I was on Fox News and was interviewed by several outlets. I had no intention of going public and was moving on with my life, but I was given the opportunity by Planned Parenthood. And that lawsuit? They lost. They never sued the directors or me when the movie, Unplanned, came out in 2019. We never heard a peep from them.
After leaving Planned Parenthood, you started the anti-abortion ministry called And Then There Were None, which serves as a refuge for ex-abortion clinic workers. Tell us more about the mission of your ministry. What is the most rewarding part of organizing ex-abortion clinic workers?
When I left Planned Parenthood, I searched around for people like me who had gotten out of the abortion industry, and no such group existed. I decided to start And Then There Were None to provide support for workers to quit the abortion industry. We have healing retreats, offer financial assistance, emotional support, and resume writing, all at no charge. We have helped more than 550 workers quit the industry, and we hope many more will follow, so there will be no one left to run abortion clinics. It’s been incredible to be a part of the healing of so many people like myself. Abortion clinics are dark places, and no one understands what it’s like to work there except the people who have also worked there. There are things that we carry with us that are impossible to describe and haunt us every day. Through ATTWN, we have been able to really form a strong tribe of former workers who are incredible support systems for each other.
While the Democratic Party used to advocate for “safe, legal, and rare” abortions, the party has steadily radicalized. Many Democrats openly support third-trimester abortions, and we’ve seen Hollywood celebrities like Busy Philipps encourage the celebration of abortion. How do you believe conservative women can challenge this pro-abortion culture?
Look at Amy Coney Barrett. She is everything the women’s movement should support— a woman who has risen to the very top of her profession while also having a family, cracking those glass ceilings one after another. Yet, no women’s rights groups are supporting her because she did it without abortion. The abortion industry tells women they need abortion to be successful and that women aren’t strong enough to have a career and a child or finish school and have their baby. Conservatives need to keep standing up for these women, meeting them where they are, encouraging them with emotional, financial, and spiritual support.
President Trump has been called “the most pro-life President in American history,” as he recently issued an executive order to protect born-alive abortion survivors. You recently spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of President Trump’s pro-life Presidency. Tell us more about why you support our President and what this upcoming election means to the pro-life movement.
I support President Trump because he’s done more for the unborn than any other President. During his first month in office, he banned federal funds for global health groups that promote abortion. That same year, he overturned an Obama-Biden rule that allowed government subsidy of abortion. He appointed a record number of pro-life judges, including now three Supreme Court Justices. And importantly, he announced a new rule protecting the rights of healthcare workers objecting to abortion, many of whom I work with every day. Life is a core tenet of who we are as Americans. This election is a choice between two radical, anti-life activists and the most pro-life President we’ve ever had.
You attended the 2017 Women’s March to march for life. Many conservative women believe that the Women’s March and the feminist movement have no place for women who do not support abortion. As a prominent pro-life advocate, what is your perspective on feminism and the Women’s March?
I realize now how much of what I had believed at Planned Parenthood for so many years was a lie. But it felt profound at the time. It was— and still is in many ways— a “man’s world,” and I was willing to make the sacrifices necessary to work like a man. If it meant trading in motherhood for a 60-hour workweek, then so be it. If it meant stifling who God had intended me to be as a woman, then it would be done. If it meant giving away my femininity in order to subscribe to secular feminism, a worldview that taught me to hate men and to see them as a thorn in the progression of women’s “equality,” then I was ready to make to trade. It really did seem so sacrificial. I was sacrificing for the “greater good of women.” But what did the “greater good of women” even look like? I had no idea, really. But since we were taught to sacrifice everything, it had to look something like childless women, self-serving women, women who saw men as an adversary. Unfortunately, this felt like what much of the Women’s March promoted. And they are missing out on so many incredible women who would be examples to women struggling with those kind of lies they are being fed by celebrities who claim abortion is needed to be successful.
While I was able to regain some of what I traded, two things would forever be lost: my two aborted children. Was this award from Planned Parenthood worth their lives? No, absolutely not. But it would take a lot of time for me to realize the error of my negotiation. And I’m so thankful I did because it led me on a path towards redemption, love, and mercy. We can all choose that path, even though we have made past mistakes. The Women’s March embodies all those lies I was told and believed at Planned Parenthood. But there is still time to change, and everyone is worthy of the grace to do so.
Pro-choice activists often use euphemisms like “reproductive rights” and “women’s rights” when describing the legality of abortion. How do you combat the argument that abortion is a women’s right to choose?
That terminology takes away from women their very femininity, forcing them to deny their womanhood. The pro-life movement discourages that self-doubt and seeks to walk with them through their time of need, encouraging them to embrace what they were meant to be as women. We have such a special gift in our ability to grow human beings. And that’s what they are— distinct, irrepeatable human beings, not a body part of women. Women in crisis pregnancies need to feel supported and that they have other options besides abortion. I think most women know that abortion is taking the life of their unborn child, but they feel like they have no other option. It’s our job as pro-lifers to make abortion the unthinkable option.
You inspire conservative and pro-life women across this country to be confident and courageous in their beliefs. What advice would you give young women who want to speak up for their beliefs but are worried about the backlash they will receive?
Speaking the truth in love is our calling. We cannot be hateful and yelling and unkind. We have to be honest with each other but do it in a loving way. The “cancel culture” is real, and yes, it can be scary. Yet we’ve already won this battle, and we have Jesus right next to us, which is all we need.
