Book Review: Unplanned by Abby Johnson

I wonder what our great-grandchildren will regard as the great evangelical failing of our day? What will cause them to look at us and shake their heads sadly about our lack of action? Who will be the Wilberforce and Newton in this issue, who stands out from the majority. I guess the very nature of the question makes it hard to answer, but if there a chance that it might be our (relative) inaction on plight of the unborn?

On the plane to Utah (Utah is a long way...a long way from eastern North Carolina) i read Unplanned, by Abby Johnson. To sum it up simply, it's the story of one woman's journey from being the director of a Planned Parenthood clinic to being an advocate for Coalition for Life. From pro choice to pro life. It's a fascinating book.

The great strength is that the author knows good people on both sides of the debate. It's gets pro lifers nowhere trying to demonize Planned Parenthood and their employees. It also helpfully turns the spotlight on some unhelpful pro life tactics. Does it help vulnerable women to show them a huge poster sized picture of an aborted baby, for example? Obviously not.

Abby takes us on a journey with her from the slightly naive girl recruited at Texas A&M, to the slow realisation that a company that makes most of it's money from abortion can never be objective about the rights of the unborn and the health of women. Whether this was a development in the nature of Planned Parenthood, or simply scales falling from the eyes of the author is something each reader can decide. The irony of the story is, if Planned Parenthood had simply let Abby Johnson quit her job, we never would have heard of her. But they pursued her, they dragged her into a pointless court case, and made her a national figure. Now her story is a bestseller.

Abby grew up going to church, but never made a connection between what she believed and the way she lived, at least not in this issue. This challenges me as a youth pastor to make sure that the truth i teach our teens makes the journey from head to heart.

There are good people who work for Planned Parenthood, people whose heart is to help troubled women. In the pro-life camp, we should remember that, these people are our best hope of change within that organisation, if we can reach them in a sensible and sensitive way.

Words really matter. Pro choice soounds so much nicer than pro life. But pro life we are, and pro life Christians must be. We must choose our words as carefully as our actions, remembering that financially and with the liberal media, we're the under dog.

God is capable of anything. So pray for your local Planned Parenthood clinic, and pray for your local pro life clinic, that both the rights of the unborn, and the health, both physical and spiritual, of women would be protected.

If i had one complaint about his book, it would be in it's ecumenism. But, it's not a theological text book, and it's strengths far outweigh it's weaknesses. So buy and read this book. And pray that this wouldn't be the issue that future generations look back on us and shake their heads because of.