TRANSCRIPT:
Intertitle: On October 5, 2009, the director of the Bryan, TX Planned Parenthood took steps that would change her life.
Intertitle: What I Believed
Abby Johnson: If places like Planned Parenthood weren't around, then -- abortion would be really unsafe, and we would just be sending women to places that would be unsafe, and they would be dying -- by the thousands. And Planned Parenthood's goal is about preventing abortion, and it's about making abortion safe, and making it rare. And that really -- sounded -- about what I believed in.
Intertitle: What I Saw
Abby Johnson: I looked at the ultrasound screen, and I saw the whole profile of a baby on the screen. And, I was pretty excited when I went in the room, and as soon as I saw that baby on the screen, that excitement kind of left. I suddenly felt pretty anxious and was thinking that this could be a really horrible -- image.
The canula made its way to the baby and, started poking the baby in the side and, you know, the baby wasn't moving. And I thought, "Okay, well, of course not. Of course it's not moving because -- babies at this stage don't feel anything." That's what I tell women all the time. When they'd ask me if my baby's gonna feel pain or gonna feel anything, I tell them, "No."
All of a sudden, the baby woke up. It seemed to just wake up. And the baby started moving and the arms and legs started -- moving, and it appeared that the baby was trying to move away -- from the canula. And I just -- I couldn't believe what I was watching. And -- then the doctor had to keep moving the canula closer to the baby because it was making progress, moving away.
The last thing that I saw on the screen was -- this perfect little backbone of the baby. And, on an ultrasound the backbone is really bright white. And that was the -- the very last thing that I saw, twist and then -- and go into the tube.
We finished up the day, I went home. I called my friend -- Laura, who had also worked at the Bryan clinic with me, and was no longer working at Planned Parenthood anymore, and told about her what I had witnessed. And -- she -- when I started describing it, she'd never seen anything like that either, and she made me stop. And she just said, "I can't -- I can't listen to any more. To any more."
And then I started thinking about all the women that I'd lied to -- unintentionally, but, you know, Planned Parenthood had told me, that their baby's not gonna feel any of that, and their baby's not gonna feel any pain. And so -- and so when the women asked me that, and they asked me that all the time. I mean, women asked me that probably hundreds of times. And every time I would just immediately answer, "No! Absolutely not!" Because that's what Planned Parenthood had told me to say, and that's what I believed. And I just thought, "What if these women had known the truth? You know -- Would they have made that choice?" They asked the question because it mattered to them -- and I had just given them a lie.
Intertitle: What I Did
Abby Johnson: Monday I went back to work and I was just -- hating it. I was just dreading it. And they were doing medication abortions that day. And I was sitting in my office, and I was looking at these women coming in and out of the clinic, and they were walking to their car, and they were holding these brown bags, and knew that in the bag was the medication abortion -- pills, the regimen. And I just sat there and I was thinking, "I'm still doing it." I started to cry, and I -- I just thought, "Where am I gonna go?" Because all of my so-called friends were either working at Planned Parenthood or affiliated with Planned Parenthood in some way.
I looked out the window and I saw these two women -- praying outside of the clinic, and I -- I felt like God was telling me to go.
You know, the day that I saw the abortion procedure, I didn't know that I would one day be here. I didn't know that I would be working in the pro-life movement. Because I wasn't angry. I wasn't disgruntled. I just -- didn't want to work at Planned Parenthood any more. I just didn't want to -- take part in any more abortions. I didn't want my hands to be involved in that work any more. And, you know, God had different plans. And, you know, I heard somebody say one time, "You want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans." And -- and that's definitely been the situation for me through all of this.
I was never sure that I would feel comfortable going and praying out in front of the clinic that I ran. I didn't know how uncomfortable that would feel.
I know it works. And, you know, I didn't leave because I wanted attention. I left because I was following God's will. And, you know, every time you're out there in front of the clinic it is stirring up the conscience of the men and women going in, and it's stirring up the conscience of the clinic workers who are there. Every time you're out there, people are watching what you're doing. People are watching you pray.
I've gotten several calls from other Planned Parenthood directors, and other Planned Parenthood workers, who have left the abortion industry, because they felt like God was calling them out, and-- you know, they haven't gone public like I have, but they left, and now they're reaching out to me, because they want to talk to somebody about it. They want to talk to -- you know, about the things that they witnessed. And so -- You never know how much impact the work that you're doing will have on another person. And so that's why we have to keep up what we're doing. And we have to be willing to say to Planned Parenthood, and those that support Planned Parenthood, "As long as you're there, as long as your doors are open, as long as you are continuing to provide abortions, we will be there. And not that we're gonna be there fighting you. But we're going to be there bringing hope, to the people that work in that center. And we're going to be there to bring hope to the men and women going in there, who feel like they have no hope. We're going to be there to bring them hope."
20 comments:
It's not unusual for abortion workers to convert to right-to-lifist propagandists. Providing health care is difficult, stressful, physically demanding, long hours, and underpaid. Right-to-life propaaganda has many advantages as a career--you can make your own hours (writing), the money can be very good, and if you have previous experience as an abortion worker, your new colleagues hail your conversion and respect your expertise.
The joke among abortion docs is, when they feel like retiring they can join the other side.
Well, look at Jill Stanek. Went from a dead-end nursing job to media stardom overnight.
Funny, OC, there's no cadre of ex-transplant surgeons who are now Christian Scientists, denouncing modern medicine, though I'm sure it'd be lucrative for them. There's no cadre of ex-oncologists who are on the health food circuit promoting granola munching as a cancer cure, though I'm sure it'd be lucrative for them. There's no cadre of ex-ER doctors who are now Luddites, denouncing their former work.
I'd say being a transplant surgeon or an oncologist or an ER physician would be pretty darned stressful. And tons of them retire. But none of them form groups of ex-physicians against modern medicine. But ex-abortionists? There are scads of them, converts to the other side. Why aren't other physicians cashing in on this? And how come so few of the converts are "cashing in" when they become prolife?
And how come there's no cadre of ex-CPC workers who have become converts and now speak at NAF conferences? How come there's no group of former CPC directors running abortion clinics, the way former abortion workers now run CPCs?
I can completely understand why people dealing with death so much would want to switch to the other side. It is hard to sort out other people's shit. But at the same token we have social workers that get burnt out by trying to sort out the mess that comes from having children that people don't want to or are not able to parent.
Its crap for the abortioners and the social workers both and I guess only god knows the solution!
Lil, where is the evidence that abortion reduces child abuse? Carl Tyler of the CDC tried to get Congress to legalize abortion on demand back in around 1970, promising that it would "eliminate child abuse in a single generation." After aborting roughly 50 million unborn babies, the problems of child abuse are worse than ever. What went wrong? Did we abort the wrong 50 million, or was 50 million not enough?
Or was there maybe something wrong with the whole premise? Maybe our culture that treats kids like consumer goods, that only have a right to exist if their parents "choose" them, contributes toward an attitude that the kids somehow *owe* their parents. That the entitlement mentality that abortion contributes to makes people (including parents) less able to adequately cope with having their wishes thwarted. Hence, more child abuse.
Christina, you don't know what you're talking about. Transplant surgeons and ER docs (ESPECIALLY ER docs) and other hi-stress specialists burn out ALL THE TIME. Some move to lower-stress specialties and some give up medicine altogether. Where I went to med school, some of the profs warned the students who were interested in these fields to prepare for burnout in advance.
You just don't hear so much about the non-abortion burnouts because there are no internet sites crowing over them.
Burnouts in non-abortion fields don't tend to become anti-medicine ideologues, because the opportunities for them are not as attractive. Ex abortion docs have a special niche if they become right-to-lifers, because the ideology is so thoroughly commercialized. It's much easier to be a successful right-to-lifist propagandist than it is to be, say, an anti-ophthalmology ideologue or an anti-orthopedic-surgery ideologue. There's more money floating around in right-to-lifism.
Try researching BEFORE you opine. You'll embarrass yourself less that way.
That applies equally to non-doctors, lower-level health-care workers. If you have worked in abortion, you can tap into the right-to-lifist money/speaking-opportunites/etc as a convert. Not if you're a former certified ophthalmologist's assistant or whatever.
First of all, OC, ex-abortion DOCTORS don't burn out from medicine. They stay doctors; they just repudiate abortion and become regular OB/GYNs. Bernard Nathanson, Anthony Levatino, etc. And they don't make their money on the pro-life lecture circuit. They earn a living as physicians. Just as physicians who have repudiated their speciality as harming rather than helping. How many cardiologists repudiate heart surgery? How many oncologists repudiate chemo?
And you're grossly overestimating the profitability of being a convert. Pro Life Action League does NOT pay a speaking fee to their ex-abortion workers. And most ex abortion workers become VOLUNTEERS at prolife organizations.
Unlike you abortionists, we don't charge women for our services. We're actually there because it's the right thing to do. Most of us are paying out of pocket to help. I just donated a buttload of stuff to our local pregnancy help ministry, all out-of-pocket. People donate cases upon cases of diapers and baby wipes, which are in turn distributed by volunteers who put in hours upon hours every week of unpaid time.
The only volunteers at abortion clinics are the "escorts", there to make sure no customer slips away. Because death puts money in your pockets.
Christina I will not believe for one second that there is more child abuse going on now then before. You just hear about it more now as its illegal and an abomination as apposed to before it was just a way of life. This has come about because of our increased awareness on the impact of parenting on behaviour and the developments in neuroscience.
I don't know about the commodity issue with children - the only place I see it is in the adoption baby market where people that cannot have kids think that taking someone else's is not only a right but an honourable thing.
Child abuse comes from a parent who was abused or who didn't have good enough parenting. A parent that is not able to hold themselves due to mental illness, financial stress or a plethora of reasons will not be able to parent properly. Prior to abortion women just used to leave their babies on the pavements and I don't think they were seen as commodities then either.
You still haven't answered why abortion hasn't cured the problem.
And children are treated as commodities all the time. We have prenatal testing as quality control and everything.
I personally don't agree with the guy who said that abortion would cure child abuse - its nonsense in light of what we know now might result in abuse. Saying that, I consider leaving infants to die in dustbins and on pavements to be a form of abuse ie neglect and therefore you can say that abortion has greatly reduced those instances.
I never really saw prenatal testing as quality control - more like giving mom all the information available for her to get ready for her baby and to make sure that if there is anything we can treat in utero that it gets done.
The fact that some women decide that they would not be able to parent a child with complex needs and decide on abortion - who am I or you to judge them. You can have kids you hand over to the state to look after. I value quality of life over and above all else.
Abortion has reduced abandoned and murdered infants? Have you not been following the news? The most likely person to kill a newborn is his or her own mother. And the murder rate of infants under age one has been going up. So making them disposable before birth hasn't correlated with an idea that they're somehow LESS disposable after the cord is cut. Which isn't surprising. If women have an absolute right to opt out of motherhood after the baby exists, why should clamping the umbilical cord make any difference?
And you can stand around and say you "value quality of life over and above all else" -- but why should one person have any right to judge another person's life as not worth living?
Are you kidding? Bernard Nathanson made a TON of $ from his book.
There's loads of money in right-to-lifism, from eccentric billionaires like Richard Mellon Scaife and Joe Coors (to name just two), also from the Catholic Church and evangelical organizations.
You just need to know how to apply for the money, that's all.
This may be shocking to prochoice sensibilities, but I'm not in it for the money. If I wanted to make money off other people's despair, bewilderment, fear, and misery, I'd be an abortionist.
I am fascinated by the conversion stories of others, because they remind me of my own, when I went from pro-life to pro-choice.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D6113DF930A3575AC0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
Again Christina - I cannot believe that you actually think that there is more infanticide and abandonment now then there was before? Take a look at the above article - I'm not alone in my thinking.
And actually - I think the most dangerous person to a child is their step dad/mom - if you look at the statistics. Again these are things that have always happened and continue to happen but at a massively reduced rate.
I'm in no way saying that one person's life is more worth living then others all I am saying is that - if I was born with very little quality of life ie I couldn't move, didn't have any control over my bodily funcations and could not communicate with others - I would prefer not to live. Why would I put my children through something i wouldn't be prepared to do myself.
Lil, I'm aware that children OVER the age of 1 year are more likely to be harmed or killed by mom's live-in. It's newborns we were talking about.
And you certainly draw a worst case scenario, when the more typical reasons for abortion are things like Down syndrome, dwarfism, cleft palate, etc.
And people THINK they'd not want to live if they had a particular disability, but change their minds after they've gone through an adjustment period. With a severe disability (quadriplegia, for example), it usually takes a few years until the person settles in to the new life. But they'll be just as happy (or unhappy) after adjusting to the disability than they were before becoming disabled.
Rent "Murderball" and watch the interview with Larry King and the guys.
I'm not talking about those that can talk and communicate what they are feeling - I'm talking about those that are unable to tell anyone what is actually going on for them.
Where are you getting the info on how people react to their disability - I will watch the movie - but surely you are not basing your opinion on a handful of people?
If you were to look up studies, you'd find that people with disabilities are no more or less happy than their non-disabled counterparts.
And I saw this at the institution where I worked. Every resident had a mental disability, and many had severe physical disabilities as well. And they were just people. Some of them were happy, some sullen, some moody, some cranky. No more or less so than anybody else.
When they were dissatisfied with life, it was for the same reasons anybody else is dissatisfied -- family members let them down; rules thwarting them in their pursuits; people pissing them off (like a roommate who wouldn't clean up after himself or a staff person being bossy).
The people who could talk were no more or less happy than those who couldn't. The mobility-impaired no more unhappy than the physically vigorous.
Overall, frankly, the institution was a cheerful place, because most of the staff were decent people who cared about the residents and seldom gave them reason to have complaints.
The idea that people with disabilities are miserable is based on two things -- people projecting onto others what they believed they'd feel, and the reaction depression that accompanies acquiring a disability. Once they learn to adapt, to do things differently than they had been doing them, they're right back to being the same person they were before becoming disabled.
You'll find that adjustment depression works the other way as well. People with long-term blindness to have their sight restored go through great depression and misery as they have to re-adjust how they relate to the world.
Well Christina, because you're human you are projecting as much as anyone else so I guess we all have to respect each others projections.
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