Abby Johnson
I want women to understand that the most beautiful thing a woman's body does is to grow other human beings.
'And Then There Were None' is a network of former abortion clinic workers who are stepping forward to tell our stories about what really happens behind the closed doors of Planned Parenthood and abortion facilities across America. We are stepping forward because our voices deserve to be heard, and America deserves to know the truth.
We can be mothers and have careers. We can finish our education with children in tow. Is it a challenge? Yep. But women are made for challenges. We are strong enough to handle the challenges presented to us. It's what we were made to do.
Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) are constantly in the crosshairs of the abortion industry. They are angry that PRCs take away clients who would otherwise use them for abortion. They lose lots of money to PRCs every year - and are vastly outnumbered.
I live with very serious headaches, even though I am on daily medication.
When I left Planned Parenthood, I was extremely nervous. I was immediately thrown into the media spotlight, and I had no idea what it was going to be like to be a public figure in the pro-life movement.
Planned Parenthood has consistently claimed to 'care' for women 'no matter what' and champion 'women's rights' - yet they frantically silence any woman who thinks women deserve better than Planned Parenthood.
I try not to go down the 'what if' road very often. It isn't fruitful and just makes you feel crummy.
I wrote in my book, 'unPlanned,' about a church that kicked me out when they found out that I worked for Planned Parenthood. I often get questioned about that, whether I still think they made the wrong decision. My answer is a resounding 'Yes.'
Planned Parenthood's bottom line is number. And, with abortion as its primary money-maker, that means implementing a quota.
Filthy abortion clinics are not uncommon, but finding out about health violations at each clinic is no easy task.
The abortion industry is interested in nothing but the bottom line.
Women - and those who love them - need to know the truth about abortion facilities.
If Disney wants ideas for a princess, make her an independent woman, one who is not afraid to face the daily struggles of life, and refuses to wear expensive dresses. Because we all know life is messy, and those dresses are too pretty to get dirty.
Not many people get that 'happily ever after' they want in life. There are disappointments every step of the way, no matter how hard one strives for the best.
It is a beautiful thing to witness when my kids ask about the baby in my belly whenever I have been pregnant.
I have daughters. They love Disney princesses.
Planned Parenthood is a tough place to work - the hours are long, the work is emotionally draining, the paperwork is endless, and the morale can run low.
The abortion industry and their workers are under unique pressure and constantly in the spotlight because abortion is so controversial, and people on both sides are considerably passionate. This isn't a typical nine-to-five job. It's on a whole other level of intensity.
I left Planned Parenthood in 2009 and have since started an organization called And There Were None, which helps abortion workers leave their jobs and find new ones.
Planned Parenthood doesn't care about women's health care needs; it cares about abortion.
Abortion is a severely traumatic and potentially dangerous procedure.
I joined Planned Parenthood because I wanted to help poor women with real health care needs.
I feel so pure in heart.
Planned Parenthood's mission, on paper, is to give women quality and affordable health care and to protect women's rights. In reality, their mission is to increase their abortion numbers and, in turn, increase their revenue.
After working in a prominent position at a Planned Parenthood facility in Central Texas for over eight years, I can say that women deserve better than Planned Parenthood and that their funding should be reallocated to Federally Qualified Health Centers.
Should Planned Parenthood be defunded, women will still have access to great quality healthcare. Speaking as a former Planned Parenthood director, I know that quality health care is best provided outside of Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood claims to offer a wide variety of services, but they actually fall short in many areas.
If a woman goes to Planned Parenthood for birth control and discovers in the course of her visit that she has high blood pressure, Planned Parenthood can't help her. She has to be referred to a FQHC for treatment.
My first March for Life was in 2010, three months after I left my job in the abortion industry as clinic director at a Planned Parenthood in Texas. It was intensely emotional, shocking in many ways, especially the outright love I saw in the faces of people who I once considered enemies.
I worked at Planned Parenthood for eight years, rising through the ranks from volunteer escort to clinic counselor to clinic director.
Some images stick with you forever, images that you can't unsee.
There is such little tolerance for women on the national stage who don't agree with the hosts of 'The View' or celebrities who march with Planned Parenthood.
I have a nationally distributed film whose pivotal scene is the ultrasound-guided abortion.
I certainly never thought I would find myself walking into a pro-life office, and I never thought that I would one day be pro-life.
I didn't want to be pro-life. I hated the pro-life movement. I had been taught to hate them. I thought they hated me.
An important part of my story is that I didn't walk out of Planned Parenthood immediately after witnessing the ultrasound-guided abortion. It is made to appear that way in the film, 'Unplanned,' because they are trying to fit 10 years of my life into an hour-and-a-half-long movie.
I'm happy to talk to liberal media, and we often have good conversations.
In any business, there are facilities that excel at what they do and others that need improvement and further training.
While I am a pro-life woman, I am also a woman who is concerned about rights for the disabled, maternity leave, the death penalty, health care, domestic violence, breastfeeding rights, etc.
While I am a single-issue voter, I certainly don't live a single-issue existence. Many causes affect my family and me, and I intend to be a voice for those as well.
Pro-life feminists believe in women and their ability. Pro-choice feminists only see women as weak and something to be exploited.
Why do Planned Parenthood and their allies only 'trust women' and only want to hear women's stories when they agree with Planned Parenthood? Why do they work to silence any women who disagree with them? Don't our stories matter?
Throughout history, women have often been treated as second-class citizens and their voices silenced.
When former abortion workers speak out in public about what they did in their clinics, what they saw happening, and the disrespect consistently shown women, hearts and mind change, and abortion facilities close.
The abortion facility in Texas where I worked for eight years closed after enough workers like me left. They closed because I finally spoke out against the terrible things I saw, the deceit I participated in, and the unsanitary practices common to many abortion facilities.
The testimony of former abortion workers can help persuade lawmakers to create fair laws that protect women from dirty abortion facilities.
It's my theory that one of the big reasons clinics have shut down - and will continue to shut down - is that former abortion workers have spoken out about their experiences in public and worked to testify against their former employers.
I had developed a relationship with one of the anti-abortion sidewalk counselors who stood in front of my facility. We talked regularly through the fence and she had asked me to go have coffee with her one day. I was impressed with her persistence and, honestly, I thought I would really like her if I got to know her.