Tuesday 11 January 2011

Abby Johnson, former abortion centre director, gives hope for the unborn

In February I blogged about an amazing interview with Abby Johnson, the former director of a Planned Parenthood abortion centre in America who became pro-life. Abby has now published a book, "unPLANNED", about the reality of Planned Parenthood and of her pro-life conversion. LifeSiteNews.com has published the first chapter and below are some key extracts from Abby's stunning account.
  • "[Alt]hough I’d been with Planned Parenthood for eight years, I had never been called into the exam room to help the medical team during an abortion"
  • "To my knowledge, we’d never done ultrasound-guided abortions at our facility"
  • "I could not have imagined how the next 10 minutes would shake the foundation of my values and change the course of my life"
  • "I could see the entire, perfect profile of a baby. It looks just like Grace at 12 weeks, I thought, surprised, remembering my very first peek at my daughter, three years before, snuggled securely inside my womb."
  • "[A] new image entered the video screen. The cannula — a strawshaped instrument attached to the end of the suction tube — had been inserted into the uterus and was nearing the baby’s side. It looked like an invader on the screen, out of place. Wrong. It just looked wrong."
  • "My eyes flew to the patient’s face; tears flowed from the corners of her eyes. I could see she was in pain."
  • "As the cannula pressed its side, the baby began struggling to turn and twist away. It seemed clear to me that it could feel the cannula, and it did not like what it was feeling."
  • "I had a sudden urge to yell, “Stop!” To shake the woman and say, “Look at what is happening to your baby! Wake up! Hurry! Stop them!”"
  • "The last thing I saw was the tiny, perfectly formed backbone sucked into the tube ... I was frozen in disbelief"
  • "The image of the tiny body, mangled and sucked away, was replaying in my mind"
  • "[I]t hit me like a lightning bolt: What I have told people for years, what I’ve believed and taught and defended, is a lie."
  • "And right there, standing beside the table, my hand on the weeping woman’s belly, this thought came from deep within me: Never again! Never again."
  • "Like so many patients I’d seen before, she continued to cry, in obvious emotional and physical pain."
  • "I was...looking to understand how I found myself in this place — living a lie, spreading a lie, and hurting the very women I so wanted to help."
Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, wrote in 2005 a dissertation on the subject of abortion centre staff. Anthony has sent me his reaction to Abby's story:
"Abby's insider-story is a powerful indication that among abortion centre staff, even the most senior staff, many may be unaware of the full reality of abortion. It also indicates that many may not be personally convinced that abortion is good, believing instead in their own rhetoric. This is a sign of hope for the unborn, because the brittleness of believing one’s own rhetoric will naturally crumble into self-doubt. The pro-abortion lobby has been complaining for years that fewer and fewer doctors want to be involved in abortion. Abby's story gives us a glimmer of hope that the abortion industry may one day collapse from inside."
Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
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