More than 6,000 pro-life advocates turned out to hear Abby Johnson and leaders of her new ministry, And Then There Were None — which is dedicated to helping abortion clinic workers leave the industry so Planned Parenthood and abortion facilities have no one left to employ.
Johnson launched the new ministry in a webcast Monday night that more than 6,500 pro-life advocates listened to online. During the event, Johnson said she hoped to reach the nearly 10,000 people estimated to be working at abortion businesses across the country and to provide them with the emotional, financial and spiritual support necessary to leave their jobs and seek new lives outside of the industry.
Johnson said financial considerations are often a problem for abortion clinic workers, who worry about how to provide for their families should they leave jobs that pay well, especially given Planned Parenthood’s status as a billion-dollar-a-year organization.
“We don’t ever want money to be a reason that someone feels like they need to stay inside the abortion industry,” Johnson told listeners. “This is a job that is evil, and they feel that evil inside of them everyday when they go to work.”
Johnson, who was an honored employee at the Texas-based Planned Parenthood abortion business she ran, told pro-life advocates that abortion clinic workers are told by their employers that they will be ostracized should they leave, with one administrator telling workers, “Well, good luck getting another job, because you’ve worked in the abortion industry, and nobody will want you.”
Two former abortion clinic workers joined Johnson on the call, including Annette, a Latino woman and former Planned Parenthood worker who reminded the audience that abortion facility workers are victims like the women and children whose lives abortion destroys. Christina Martin chronicled what Annette shared in a blog at Live Action.
Annette was a sociology major who choose to work for the abortion industry in an attempt to help young women prevent STDs and unplanned pregnancies. After witnessing girls in her family get pregnant at a young age, she wanted to reach ladies who could be faced with similar situations.
Annette was convinced that her work for the industry was beneficial. She enjoyed talking to students about abstinence and believed that abortion was just a small part of what her organization did. Her supervisors informed her that every pregnant woman who came into their clinic would receive information on three options. The first would be to keep their child, the second would be adoption, and the third and final option would be abortion. When Annette transitioned from educating high school students to working in the clinic, she discovered that those three options were a lie. The only “option” that was pushed was termination of the pregnancy.
One day, Annette’s boyfriend convinced her to go to a pro-life event. There she heard the testimony of Abby Johnson, the former director of a Planned Parenthood in TX. After Abby finished speaking, Annette knew she had to talk with her. She believes that God made a way for them to connect, perhaps largely thanks to her boyfriend’s prayers.
Talking with Abby on Sunday gave Annette the courage to approach her supervisor and quit on Monday morning. Annette is now married to her boyfriend and getting ready to give birth. She’s spent the last year of her life counseling at a crisis pregnancy center. Annette stated that it’s an amazing feeling to know that she is finally able to really help women.
Johnson told LifeNews that ATTWN seeks to assist former abortion clinic workers through these four integral aspects: emotional, spiritual, legal, and financial. She said emotional support will be readily available for these former clinic workers as they need it and they will be connected to a spiritual guidance counselor of any religious denomination of their choosing for the process of spiritual healing.
Full legal protections of an attorney will be available to former clinic workers at no cost for any abortion facility staff considering quitting their jobs and they will obtain financial support as they receive assistance in finding a new job outside of the abortion industry.
Aside from prayer, Johnson says, the most crucial aspect of this new ministry is garnering funds so these clinic workers can literally afford to leave the abortion industry and still be able to provide for themselves and their families. This is where pro-lifers can truly be active in their convictions: as there is no other outreach program like this one, it will need support, she explained.
“It is not always easy to convince people to give to a ministry where you may never meet the people you help,” Johnson said. “You may never know their names. You may never see them face to face. But your support is saving them…saving them from a road of darkness, of pure evil. Your support is bringing them into hope.”
“If you or someone you know wants to leave the abortion industry, there is free, confidential help available,” Johnson says. “Visit www.attwn.org or www.abbyjohnson.org to contact ATTWN and receive guidance and assistance through your transition out of the abortion industry— every step of the way.”
You can listen to the recording of the webcast here: https://ds1.downloadtech.net/cn1086/audio/20715387405177-001.mp3
