Abby Johnson, a former abortion clinic director at Planned Parenthood, spoke to Alex Marlow on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily on Thursday, explaining that she became a pro-life advocate after witnessing an abortion.
The interview came ahead of the 2019 March for Life, scheduled for January 18 in Washington, DC.
Johnson said, “I worked for Planned Parenthood for eight years. I was a clinic director. I left in 2009 after a couple of things. One, I was told that my job was to double the amount of abortions — so double our abortion quota — that we had in our clinic, which was troubling to me because I was told for all of these years that our goal was to reduce the number of abortions, and here I am being told to double our quota.”
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Johnson then described her participation in and witnessing of an abortion procedure.
Johnson recalled, “Then, about a month later, I was asked to help participate in an ultrasound-guided abortion procedure. Ultrasounds are generally not used during the actual abortion procedure itself, but we had a new physician in our clinic that day, and he wanted to show us what this looked like. He thought it would be a good learning opportunity for us. I watched as a 13-week-old fetus fought and struggled for his life against the abortion instrument. I knew then that there was humanity in the womb, and abortion was taking the life of this innocent human being, and I decided to leave Planned Parenthood.”
Marlow invited Johnson’s comments on science as the theme of this year’s March for Life.
“I love the theme of the March this year,” replied Johnson. “I often — every day — talk to people who support abortion, and one of the things that they cannot deny is the science of the human fetus. That really bothers them, the fact that they want so bad to say, ‘It’s not human,’ and then when you really challenge them and ask, ‘Well, what species is it? Is it feline? Is it canine? What is it?’ That really gets to the heart of the issue. Science is on our side.”
Johnson added, “For those of us who are faithful people, for those of us who are believers, we know where science comes from. We know that science comes from our Creator. None of us who are Christian should have a problem with helping other people understand the science of a human person in the womb because we know the science was given to us by Christ.”
Johnson continued, “It’s a great opportunity. We see more and more people who are secular [and] atheist coming into the pro-life movement because of the science, and that’s a beautiful thing.”
Marlow asked if Planned Parenthood’s position is that an unborn child’s humanity is contingent on the pregnant woman’s desires.
Johnson explained how Planned Parenthood shifted its public statements on abortion over time.
“When I worked at Planned Parenthood, we sort of changed our phrasing back in about 2008,” stated Johnson. “So it used to be, ‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about it. It’s just a blob of tissue. It’s just fetal matter.’ Then it sort of changed. More and more women were having ultrasounds. Sixty percent of women who have abortions already have children at home, so these weren’t women who were ignorant to the fact that they were pregnant with a baby.”
Johnson went on. “So we had to change the way that we talked about abortion. So it became, ‘It’s not a baby until the woman decides she wants to keep the baby.’ And these women are so desperate for any sort of justification for their abortion. They believe whatever you tell them. Then it became, ‘Abortion is a sacrificial choice. It’s a choice that a woman makes because she cares about herself, her current family, and her future family.’ That was the language that we were told to start using in about 2008, and that’s the language that continues within Planned Parenthood.”
Marlow asked about contemporary left-wing sloganeering related to abortion — including “Shout Your Abortion” and actress Lena Dunham’s claimed wish to have had an abortion.
Johnson remarked, “Even in the past more than nine years that I’ve been out of Planned Parenthood, I’ve seen a shift in the way they talk about abortion and the way that they encourage our society and women who’ve had abortions to talk about their abortion.”
Johnson added, “When I worked at Planned Parenthood, we kept the abortion brochures behind the counter. Women had to ask for them to get them. Now, the discussion about abortion is just so brazen. I went to the Women’s March two years ago just to have a pro-life there, with a sign that said, ‘True feminists are pro-life.’ I went there, and I could not believe the vulgarity that I saw among these women. It was embarrassing to me that I was part of a movement like this. It really has changed over the past nine years.”
Johnson concluded, “We see that Planned Parenthood is more vocal about their support of abortion. Their current president, Leana Wen, two days ago, coming out on Twitter and saying, ‘Planned Parenthood is focused on providing abortion.’ Great. Get it out in the open. Stop trying to hide behind this false three percent number. Let’s be honest about the number of abortions you’re providing. Stop saying it’s only three percent. We all know that’s a lie. Just be honest and come out with it.”
Johnson will be a featured speaker at the March for Life. She plans to discuss her forthcoming film, Unplanned, scheduled for release in March.
Breitbart News Daily broadcasts live on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
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