Abby Johnson's speech from Washington, D.C. on Tuesday night probably made everyone who watched it uncomfortable. It probably also made people cry.
She didn't sugarcoat the subject that she was invited to the Republican National Committee to discuss. She told America exactly what abortion really is: the killing of babies in the womb. Johnson described in staggering detail the very moment her life changed forever.
Johnson worked for years as a clinic supervisor for Planned Parenthood. She believed she was helping women, which is what she'd been told from the day she began as a volunteer. She was also told that abortion was just a minor clinical procedure and that it was "safe, legal, and rare."
She had just received an award in 2009, the Margert Sanger award, named for the organization's founder. By this point, Johnson said, the facade of planned parenthood was beginning to crumble before her eyes. When she asked why she was being encouraged to promote abortions, she was told that was how the organization made its money.
But it was the murder of a baby trying to save its own life on a monitor in a Texas Planned Parenthood clinic that began her life as an activist who now saves the lives of children instead of taking them.
(Warning: Graphic Content)
The tipping point came a month later, when a physician asked me to assist with an ultrasound-guided abortion.
Nothing prepared me for what I saw on the screen – an unborn baby fighting back, desperate to move away from the suction.
And I’ll never forget what the doctor said next – “Beam me up, Scotty.”
The last thing I saw was a spine twirling around in the mother’s womb before succumbing to the force of the suction.
On October sixth, I left the clinic, looking back only to remember why I now advocate so passionately for life.
Sanger, as Johnson pointed out in her speech, was a bigot who believed that the country needed to be cleansed of minority populations.
"Margaret Sanger was a racist who believed in eugenics; Her goal when founding Planned Parenthood was to eradicate minorities," Johnson said. "Today, almost 80 percent of Planned Parenthood abortion facilities are strategically placed in minority neighborhoods; And every year Planned Parenthood celebrates its racist roots by presenting the Margaret Sanger award."
Johnson worked for over 10 years as a voice for the voiceless and a champion of Planned Parenthood employees who, like her, realized the gruesome truth of what they'd been a part of. To date, Johnson has helped nearly 600 former Planned Parenthood employees.
The media attempted to smear Johnson just hours before her powerful speech, resurfacing video of her discussing her adopted son, who is black. In the video, Johnson discusses the differences her son may face growing up as a minority juxtaposed with those of her other sons, who are white.
But the attempt to make her ashamed of her comments and her work didn't stick, and Johnson went forward with the speech. As detractors tried to cast Johnson as a racist, she spoke powerfully and reminded the nation of the uncomfortable truth that Black babies are aborted at a higher rate than they are born. No other race comes close to the abortion rate of Black Americans.
As a pro-life activist, Abby Johnson has done quite a lot more for Black lives than the protesters attempting to discredit her.
Johnson credited the president as being the greatest ally to the pro-life movement to ever occupy the Oval Office. To vote against him would be to vote for leaders who do not value the lives of the unborn.
"Life is a core tenet of who we are as Americans," Johnson said. "This election is a choice between two radical, anti-life activists, and the most pro-life President we’ve ever had. That’s something that should compel you to action."