Johnson grew up in
Rockdale, Texas, and graduated from
Rockdale High School. She obtained her
Bachelor of Science in psychology from
Texas A&M University and
Master of Arts in counseling from
Sam Houston State University. Although raised in a conservative family opposed to abortion, Johnson began volunteering for Planned Parenthood in 2001 after seeing their booth at a volunteer fair at her college. Identifying as "extremely pro-choice," Johnson worked at the Planned Parenthood clinic in
Bryan, Texas for eight years, escorting women into the clinic from their cars and eventually working as director of the clinic. Johnson regularly encountered activists from Coalition for Life (
40 Days for Life), a local anti-abortion group which demonstrated at the clinic's fence, and described extensive harassment of clinic staff by anti-abortion activists.
Resignation from Planned Parenthood Johnson, in her description of her resignation from Planned Parenthood, says that in September 2009 she was called to assist in an ultrasound-guided abortion at thirteen weeks of
gestation. She said she was disconcerted to see how similar the ultrasound image looked to her own daughter's, and said that she saw the fetus squirming and twisting to avoid the vacuum tube used for the abortion. Johnson continued working at the clinic for nine more days, but soon met with Shawn Carney, leader of the local anti-abortion group Coalition for Life, and told him she could no longer continue assisting women in getting abortions. She resigned on October 6, 2009. In court filings, Planned Parenthood said that Johnson was put on a
performance improvement plan four days before her resignation, and that she was then seen removing items from the clinic and copying confidential files and
gave the home address and phone number of an abortion provider to Coalition for Life. Johnson said that the performance improvement plan was due to her reluctance to increase the number of abortions performed at her facility. Johnson says she did not remove, copy, or distribute any confidential information, and writes in her book that her attorney disproved these accusations at the time that the temporary order was lifted. Johnson's description of her conversion has been questioned by two investigative journalists in the
Texas Monthly and
The Texas Observer. In the Texas Monthly story, reporter Nate Blakeslee said that one day after the epiphany Johnson stated she had while watching an ultrasound guided abortion, she gave a radio interview on a feminist program in which she was enthusiastic about her clinic and critical of the 40 Days for Life protestors. Additionally, Johnson stated to Blakeslee that the woman having the abortion she witnessed was black, and thirteen weeks pregnant, yet according to the Induced Abortion Report Forms (which are required to be filed with the state of Texas), only one woman that day was black; she was in her sixth week of pregnancy, and no patient that day was more than ten weeks. According to Planned Parenthood, their records do not show any ultrasound-guided abortions performed on the date when Johnson said she witnessed the procedure, and the physician at the Bryan clinic stated that Johnson had never been asked to assist in an abortion. Blakeslee also said that during the court hearing for Planned Parenthood's injunction, two former co-workers of Johnson testified that she was afraid she would be fired. Co-workers also testified that Johnson told them that Coalition for Life could find jobs for them, all they had to do was say they had a "moral conflict" against working at Planned Parenthood. Additionally, he states that her social media postings immediately prior to her resignation never suggested any morality qualms, only someone tired of their job and angry at their employer. In the Texas Observer article, author Saul Elbein interviewed Johnson and two of her friends. According to Laura Kaminczak, a friend of Johnson's since graduate school who worked at a different Planned Parenthood clinic, Johnson's resignation from Planned Parenthood and conversion to anti-abortion was "completely opportunistic." Kaminczak stated that Johnson was disciplined at work because Kaminczak and Johnson had been exchanging emails with "inappropriate discussion" of their employees, for which Johnson was placed on a performance improvement plan, and Kaminczak was fired. Kaminczak also said that Johnson was not upset after seeing the abortion on ultrasound, but was excited about it because it seemed more humane than the standard procedure. Shelly Blair, another of Johnson's friends, and Kaminczak both stated that Johnson had financial problems, and was considering bankruptcy before she resigned from Planned Parenthood. Kaminczak went on to say that Johnson confided that Shawn Carney of Coalition for Life had promised her money for speaking arrangements if she converted. The author concludes with: "Johnson can't stop talking about the people who wronged her, about how hard she worked, about how little she was appreciated. She'll talk about how nasty her boss was, how her co-workers sold her out, how no one cared for the women as much as she did. She'll talk about how the progressives kicked her out of their club because she became pro-life, and how her friends dropped her, and how unfair it all is. The more she talks, the more Abby Johnson's issue with Planned Parenthood seems to be its treatment of Abby Johnson." Johnson's story received national coverage starting in November 2009, at which point she was embraced by the anti-abortion movement and compared to
Norma McCorvey, the "Jane Roe" of
Roe v. Wade, the
United States Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in 1973. McCorvey joined the anti-abortion movement in 1995. == Anti-abortion activism ==