In many ways, Abby Johson is an unlikely pro-life advocate. The former Planned Parenthood employee rose to become one of the youngest Clinic Directors for the organization before she left her job after eight years.
Johnson’s journey was chronicled in the 2019 film Unplanned, which was based on her book of the same title. Now, she has extended the work started with the film in the new PureFlix series “Beautiful Lives.” The show continues the conversation created by the film with interviews from others who had similar journies to Johnson.
“We wanted to highlight four other different people who had different stories,” Johnson told Ambo TV in a recent interview.
Among the four individuals interviewed are former Planned Parenthood workers and one former sex-education worker.
When asked which story from the “Beautiful Lives” series impacted her the most, Johnson mentioned Monica Klein, a former sex-ed instructor. As a mother of eight children, Johnson confessed to being concerned about the messages taught to the youth.
“I’m really burdened by what our children are hearing in the schools about the sanctity of human life,” she stated. “Her message, that sort of lack of humanity that our children are hearing in our schools is something I feel like needs to be heard everywhere.”
The author and producer recognize that not everyone agrees with her perspective. After she left Planned Parenthood she faced many challenges, including a lawsuit. Nevertheless, she believes the best way to deal with those of opposing views is with empathy, not hostility.
“One in three women have had abortions in our country, so I recognize that one in four men have been affected by abortion,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of people in our world who defend abortion because they have been apart of abortion and that was once me so I have a great deal of understanding where they’re coming from.”
It was from this place of empathy and compassion that Johnson decided to write her book Unplanned and produce the film, even though she confessed that relieving those moments were difficult.
“It was hard. I felt pretty vulnerable, but I just kept having to remind myself why I was doing it. I was really doing it to amplify God’s story. It wasn’t about me,” Johnson recounted. “It was about showing people that God’s love and His goodness and His redemption is available to anybody.”
Johnson also runs two ministries that help those who have worked in abortion clinics find new work.
“We help get them out of the abortion industry, and get them on to a path of healing and into a relationship with Jesus Christ,” she explained. “Over 570 abortion clinic workers have left their jobs and help transform their lives.”
In her other ministry, Johnson examines the reason why women turn to abortion clinics.
“We’re looking at foster cares, sex educations in school. We’re looking at adoption issues; we’re looking at trauma; we’re looking at issues that span across our society and asking, how can we help heal?”
The Texas native desires to use her ministry platforms as an opportunity to evoke connections between people so that healing can occur.
“We want to be people who live life with other people, we want to do life with them.”
“Beautiful Lives” is available now on PureFlix.
(Photo: provided by Johnson)