UnPlanned

UnPlanned by Abby Johnson

Description from Amazon:

"Abby Johnson quit her job in October 2009. That simple act became a national news story because Abby was the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas who, after participating in an actual abortion procedure for the first time, walked down the street to join the Coalition for Life. Unplanned is a heart-stopping personal drama of life-and-death encounters, a courtroom battle, and spiritual transformation that speaks hope and compassion into the political controversy that surrounds this issue. Telling Abby's story from both sides of the abortion clinic property line, this book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the life versus rights debate and helping women who face crisis pregnancies."

My Thoughts:

It is hard to write a review centered on such an explosive subject. I want to state, up front, that this is not an issue that I am going to divulge my personal beliefs about. I tend to be "in the gray" on this one, and I won't dwell on that here.

As for the book, I like to read things from both sides of hot button issues. This particular book comes from the anti-abortion point of view and was highly recommended.

My feeling on this book are hard to define But, for the most part, negative.

1. The beginning of the book is very emotional. The description Johnson gives of an abortion brought me to tears. If I had left myself with that initial perspective, I may have had more respect for the author. However, as I am prone to do, I did some thinking and some researching. The scenario she gives at the beginning is simply not supported by fact as something that  actually happened. Johnson wants the reader to believe that she works at Planned Parenthood for 8 years (in an admin role) and then, out of the blue, a doctor asks her to assist on a medical procedure that she has never assisted on before. Even though there is a qualified nurse in the room assisting. Crazily enough (sarcasm intended), no records support this. She lost credibility with me after that.

2. I found Abby Johnson to be quite self-centered, sanctimonious and disingenuous. In the beginning she complains that her church was not supportive of her working at Planned Parenthood. Then later in the book she complains that another church wasn't comfortable with her taking such an active stance on pro-life. This mentality screams out for attention and validation from others. In both circumstances she seems unsure of standing on her own beliefs. This impression only deepened after reading her blog after finishing the book.

3. This quote from the book really got me, she says: "I admit, I'm not much of a follower. Never have been. I like to lead." This was the worst quote. No doubt about it, she is a follower. Throughout the book she continuously whines about what others think about her and repeatedly claims to be a victim. She expects the reader to believe that Planned Parenthood tricked her, for 8 years, into believing they were helping women. She makes it seem like there is a grand plot to seduce her into working for them, against her own will. This simply makes her seem naive and honestly, unintelligent. She does a complete flip to the other side; going from "being fine" with abortion to fighting against even a choice for women. Flipping, literally over a few weeks, from one view to the polar opposite. I found this to be strange and disturbing, like there are not valid concerns on both sides of the issue.

4. I might have respected her opinion more if she had come to the conclusion that abortion is wrong after having 2 abortions of her own (which she states in the book didn't affect her emotionally). Or if it hadn't taken her eight years to decide she believed the total opposite. The way she tries to place the blame on Planned Parenthood is just not something I can respect. They are upfront about what they do. She was not a victim. In fact, she had not one, but two abortions and wants to now take the right to choose away from everyone else. I found this to be hypocritical in the extreme.  She is one of the people that says "so many people would want that baby!" The only people that should say that are people who have adopted/fostered children. I can't respect someone who wants to end abortion but doesn't want people to use birth control or who want to end abortion, but stop caring about what happens to the child as soon as it's born.

Overall, I clearly didn't like this book. I didn't like the tone of it, or the implied judgment. I would rather have read a book on someone's personal feelings and why they came to have an anti-abortion view. I didn't feel that this book was fair or accurate. I felt like Johnson was only pushing an agenda and I wasn't buying it.