BRYAN, Texas — The director
of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas quit her job and is
supporting a pro-life organization after watching an ultrasound of an abortion.
Abby Johnson, 29, worked at
the abortion clinic for eight years and told FoxNews.com she had been “extremely
pro-choice” during that time. That all changed in September when she watched an
ultrasound of an unborn baby being vacuumed out of a woman’s uterus. She quit
in early October.
BP photo Abby Johnson |
“I just thought I can’t do this anymore, and it was just like
a flash that hit me, and I thought, ‘That’s it,’” she told KBTX-TV in Bryan.
Johnson added in the interview with FoxNews.com, “I would say there was a
definite conversion in my heart … a spiritual conversion.”
The clinic had been the location
of a peaceful pro-life prayer vigil by those associated with the nationwide 40
Days for Life initiative. Some participants also fasted.
Johnson, who became the
clinic’s director two years ago, also said she became disgruntled with Planned
Parenthood when officials began pressuring her to get more abortions for the
facility to generate more revenue.
“Every meeting that we had was, ‘We don’t have enough money,
we don’t have enough money — we’ve got to keep these abortions coming,’“
Johnson told FoxNews.com. “It’s a very lucrative business and that’s why they
want to increase numbers.”
Johnson is thankful she left
and has no regrets.
“I feel so pure in heart (since leaving),” she told KBTX. “I
don’t have this guilt, I don’t have this burden on me anymore — that’s how I
know this conversion was a spiritual conversion.”
Johnson now is working to
prevent abortions and has prayed on the sidewalk with members of the pro-life
group Coalition for Life, which has an office just a short walk from the
Planned Parenthood building. Some of those members once prayed for Johnson to
have a change of heart. A statement from the organization called Johnson’s
conversion “by far the most amazing thing that has happened to the Coalition
for Life throughout its entire history.” Coalition for Life members have
participated in the 40 Days for Life campaign.
After Johnson quit, Planned
Parenthood asked for and received a temporary restraining order against Johnson
and the Coalition for Life. A hearing is set for Nov. 10. Planned Parenthood
issued the following statement to KBTX: “We regret being forced to turn to the
courts to protect the safety and confidentiality of our clients and staff,
however, in this instance it is absolutely necessary.”
A press release from 40 Days
for Life says Johnson is one of eight workers from various clinics who have
left their jobs during 40 Days for Life campaigns. Johnson is the highest
ranking of the eight.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Compiled
by Michael Foust, assistant editor of Baptist Press. For further information,
visit www.40daysforlife.com or www.coalitionforlife.com.)