Abby Johnson adds to anti-abortion-rights résumé with new blogging gig
Former Planned Parenthood clinic director and converted anti-abortion rights activist Abby Johnson has a new credential to add to her post-Planned Parenthood
Jul 31, 202037.9K Shares1.3M Views
Former Planned Parenthood clinic director and converted anti-abortion rights activistAbby Johnsonhas a new credential to add to her post-Planned Parenthood résumé: anti-abortion-rights blogger.
This week the anti-abortion-rights blog LifeNews.com founder and editor Steven Ertelt announcedthat Johnson will be “guest-blogging” on the site, to join the slew of LifeNews guest bloggers also involved in the anti-abortion-rights movement: Bill Saunders(senior vice president of legal affairs at Americans United for Life), David Prentice(senior fellow for life sciences at Family Research Council), Kristan Hawkins(executive director of Students for Life of America), Gerard Nadal(micro-/molecular-biology professor, editor of Center for Morality in Public Life, “fourth degree Knight of Columbus“) and Luis Zaffirini(administrative assistant for National Right to Life), and Maura Butler(staff writer at Susan B. Anthony List).
Since resigning her position as clinic director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, Johnson has been avidly networking with anti-abortion-rights organizations across the country. She is currently chief research strategist for Live Action, Lila Rose’s anti-abortion rights groups behind the undercover sting videos about Planned Parenthood. She is also on the board of Life Always, a Texas-based anti-abortion-rights media group, affiliated with Heroic Media, which was recently responsible for controversial anti-abortion billboardsin New York City, Chicago and Austin, Texas.
Johnson frequently speaks at fundraisers and on strategic webcasts for anti-abortion organizations such as 40 Days for Life, Students for Life of America and Focus on the Family. She is scheduled as a guest speaker at the upcoming annual Right to Life conventionbeginning Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., after which she is scheduled to begin a three-week tour in Australia with Australia Right to Life, according to her touring schedule.
“Abby Johnson’s life story demonstrates the power of forgiveness, the power of transformation, and the power of the pro-life message to resonate with someone who some people may consider to be unreachable because of her former position guiding a local abortion business,” Ertelt is quoted in the initial LifeNews articlewelcoming Johnson (Ertelt is also attributed as the author of the post). “With her insider’s knowledge of the abortion industry and with a heart that now yearns to protect ‘the least of these,’ we know Abby will inform and motivate people with her LifeNews columns.”
Describing her credentials to blog on abortion rights issues, Johnson is quoted in the article as saying:
“For 8 years, I was a student of the pro-life movement. Part of my job was to follow the latest legislative updates and trends. Never in my life would I have believed I would one day be contributing to the most popular pro-life news source in our country. I am very excited about the opportunity to write about issues that matter to me and also give others an insider’s perspective into the abortion industry. … I look forward to providing information that will expose the myths and deceit sold to so many who are involved in our abortion culture.”
According to Ertelt, LifeNews is visited by more than 500,000 people around the world every week.
Like the guest bloggers, LifeNews staff members are also organized in the anti-abortion rights movement.
- Steven Ertelt, who according to his biographyon the LifeNews website, has been writing “pro-life” news online since 1993, is on the board of directors of Colorado Citizens for Life. He is a former president of Right to Life of Wyoming, a former executive director of Montana Right to Life, a former public affairs director for Indiana Right to Life, and a former president of Students for Life of America.
- Julie Ertelt is the business manager at LifeNews.com, as well as the secretary for Colorado Citizens for Life and a former board member for LifeChoice Pregnancy Center.
- Jim Anderson operates LifeNews.com Radio, currently with at Sacred Heart Radio in Seattle and has served on campaigns for gubernatorial and state legislative candidates with anti-abortion rights agendas in Washington state.
- ** **Maria Vitale is a LifeNews opinion columnist, as well as the public relations director for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.
- Laura Echevarria is another LifeNews opinion columnist who was formerly the media relations director for the National Right to Life Committee
- Andrew Bair is LifeNews’ political reporter, as well as a legislative assistant for the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation.
In her first blog for LifeNews as a guest blogger, “Hands That Helped Abortions Now Extend to Unborn Children,” Johnson explains her career shift: “I watched a baby struggle for its life during the abortion. That’s why I do what I do now.”
Johnson uses hands as a metaphor to explain her anti-abortion rights work, as she traces the beginning of her supposed conversion to the moment when her hands held an ultrasound probe for the ultrasound-guided abortion she claims to have witnessed in 2009.
“„These nicely manicured hands were responsible for the loss of life. … These were the same hands that held my baby close when she cried. The same hands that that held on to hers when she was learning to walk. Were these really the same hands holding on to this ultrasound probe? … For thousands of women, my hands will bring back hurtful memories. My hands have done terrible things. But then I am reminded of something beautiful. We are told in Scripture that we are “the hands and feet of Christ.” No one has more beautiful hands than Christ. And His hands are now mine…if I accept His challenge.
Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
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