UnPlanned by Abby Johnson

I just finished reading a great book, an honest memoir that tells the story without trying to justify every action the person took during that part of their life. It is what it is. Abby Johnson’s book Unplanned is the story of a life changed by God in answer to prayer. Here’s my review:

The word abortion polarizes people—you are either for it or against it. A line drawn in the sand; a fence metaphorically and literally that forces you to choose sides. It effects all aspects of life; personally, politically, monetarily and spiritually. Unplanned shows us both sides: an inside look by someone who has been on each side of that fence.


By the time Abby Johnson started college she knew she wanted to help women in crisis. During her junior year, at a volunteer opportunities fair at her college, she met a woman from Planned Parenthood that showed her how she could do just that by volunteering for them. Abby wasn’t so sure about the abortion part, having been raised in a Christian home, but she was reassured by talk of all the other things they offered women, such as preventing pregnancies. With the hope of making abortion rare she signed up.

This is her story of going from volunteer to being the Director of a Planned Parenthood Clinic; it is an honest look at her journey, and a revealing look at the secret she kept from her family and even from herself. It is also an illuminating look at the pro life members on the other side of the fence: good and bad. How Abby Johnson crossed over to eventually join the Coalition for Life was a miracle years in the making. I highly recommend this intriguing book, and also Won by Love by Norma McCorvey who is the woman who was Jane Roe of Roe vs Wade.