Pro-life speaker urges protection for women, aborted babies

ST. ANTHONY -- An estimated 500 people gathered on the soccer field at St. Anthony Catholic Church Monday night as right-to-life advocate Abby Johnson spoke out against abortion and talked of her time as a clinic director and volunteer for Planned Parenthood.

“Guys, it’s time to get uncomfortable,”Johnson, 40, told the crowd. “We’re not intervening enough, not stepping out of our comfort zones enough. Do people have to see it broadcast live on TV to see how terrible abortion is?”

Johnson said that every day she drives by a Planned Parenthood clinic in her hometown in Texas, and she notes that there’s no one outside fighting or demonstrating against what’s happening inside.

“They might as well put up a sign and say this facility is open with permission of the Christian churches,” she told the throng. “The church is not stepping up and doing our job. We’re complicit in all of it.”

Author of the book “Unplanned,” Johnson was the focus of a 2019 film with the same name. It told her story of working eight years for Planned Parenthood at a clinic that reportedly performed 25-50 abortions a day, charging $450 for a 9-week-old baby and $500 for a baby after 10 weeks. Johnson said the organization was in the business of making money, something she adds that she was unaware of at the time. She alleges that instead of taking breaks in the exam room, the clinic would show an ultrasound, give a sedation and perform the abortion all at one time.

Johnson, who is an only child, said she was not always against abortions, despite having grown up in a Christian home. She said she was taught that it wasn’t a baby until “the mother decides that the baby is wanted.

"I was told it was just tissue and waste to be discarded," she said. "That was a lie.”

“Abortion should never be considered as health care,” Johnson added. “It was a lie, but I didn’t know. That’s what happens – people begin to believe the lie is the truth. What takes place in those back-alley abortions is still happening today in abortion clinics. Women are still dying or infected from dirty utensils or maimed by staff. And there’s the emotional regret for the rest of their lives.”

After leaving the clinic, Johnson became an anti-abortion advocate. She has spoken to audiences all over the country. In November, 2011, she spoke at the Monroe County Right to Life banquet at LaRoy’s Hall in LaSalle.

She credits God and a local pro-life group for drawing her out of the industry and turning her life around. She also praised those agencies who continue to care for women in crisis or those who have prayed at clinics or taken part in rallies at the state Capitol and the 40 Days for Life.

She said people often come up to her and ask how any woman could kill their own baby.

“If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that fear is a very powerful motivator,” Johnson said. “If you would have told me five years ago that every church would close down for a virus, I wouldn’t have believed you. If people are sick (and desperate), that’s when churches need to be open. It’s fear that drives women into these abortion facilities. We have to do a better job as a body of believers and as a community.”

Planned Parenthood received $618 million in federal funding in 2020 plus another $80 million in aid from the COVID-19 relief act, according to the American Center for Law & Justice.

Johnson concluded her 50-minute address by saying that the number of abortion clinics nationwide has declined from 1,400 to 800 today.

“Life continues to win because we’re on the right side with the medical technology, logic” and education," she said. “I really believe that very soon abortion is going to be illegal. But not just illegal. We want to make it almost unthinkable.”

Rev. Robert Slaton, pastor of St. Anthony’s, introduced the speaker. The Monroe Vicariate Evangelization Committee and the parish co-sponsored her visit with donations from more than 50 individuals and businesses.

Both Denise Roberts of Monroe and Donna Langton of South Rockwood saw the movie, but wanted to hear Johnson’s own testimony.

“I cried through the whole movie,” Roberts said. “She’s right, the church has to get involved. We can’t be silent or afraid of offending people.”

“When opportunity arises, we should speak up and reach out to someone to know they’re not alone,” Langton added.

Joe Boggs, a member of the committee, said Johnson’s message is one the nation needs to hear.

“She has a powerful message," he said. "We need to do everything we can to stop abortion."