Catholic Company Book Review - unPlanned by Abby Johnson

"I have an ever deeper and firmer belief that nothing is merely an accident when seen in the light of God, that my whole life down to the smallest details has been marked out for me in the plan of Divine Providence and has a completely coherent meaning in God's all-seeing eyes." (St. Edith Stein)

I read this quote the morning after I finished Abby Johnson's book unPlanned. How fitting, as she described how God was leading her life. Have you heard of Abby Johnson? She is a former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas who changed sides & is now pro-life. How did she get from pro-choice to pro-life? What changed her mind?

When Abby was a junior psychology major at Texas A & M University, she was drawn to Planned Parenthood's table during a volunteer fair. After speaking to the representative, she found that she & the organization shared the same goal...helping women in crisis. Her one concern was abortion & the woman assured her that Planned Parenthood worked to make abortions rare, an ideal that Abby eventually found not to be true.

She started volunteering at the local clinic & on her first day, was shown how to meet & greet women as they arrived in their cars. The volunteers were to keep talking to the women about anything in an effort to drown out the pro-lifers on the other side of the fence.

Eventually, Abby accepted a job at the clinic & over the next eight years, worked her way up to director...all the while holding to the goal of reducing the number of abortions. This proved to be a difficult task, especially once Planned Parenthood executives started cracking down on the finances of their clinics. They basically told her that the money was in the abortions & that she needed to focus on increasing the numbers. Deep down, she knew that she could never do that & continued her goal of helping women.

The defining moment in her career came when she was asked to help during an ultrasound directed abortion. What she saw shook her to the core & that is what led her to the Coalition for Life offices near the clinic.

This book is Abby's personal story of being on both sides of the fence...pro-choice vs. pro-life. She explains what attracted her to Planned Parenthood & how she was easily manipulated by their ideals to help women. She talks about her inner struggles & how hard it was to leave...even after all she'd seen & been through. I admire Abby's strength & courage. It takes a lot to realize & admit that all you'd believed for so many years was wrong.

God has a plan for each of us & throughout her story, you can see how He is constantly orchestrating His plan for her life, even when she herself couldn't see it. I believe that part of His plan for Abby was to spend those eight years at the Planned Parenthood clinic so that she could learn firsthand the evil that really does go on behind their doors, despite their claims that they just want to help women & decrease the number of abortions needed. She was also able to show how easily one can be manipulated into participating in what is thought to be a noble cause. Now that she knows, she's able to write a book to educate the rest of us. We in turn can continue to educate ourselves & increase our prayers for an end to abortion.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit their website to find more information on Unplanned. They are also a great source for First Communion & baptism gifts, as well as many other items.