{"id":14680,"date":"2019-09-27T20:14:34","date_gmt":"2019-09-28T00:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/?p=14680"},"modified":"2019-09-29T10:44:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T14:44:33","slug":"politics-education-with-abby-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/politics-education-with-abby-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Politics & Education With Abby Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_Abby-headshot.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-14681\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"14681\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/politics-education-with-abby-johnson\/thumbnail_abby-headshot\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_Abby-headshot.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"458,539\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"0"}\" data-image-title=\"thumbnail_Abby headshot\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_Abby-headshot-255x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_Abby-headshot.jpg\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-14681 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_Abby-headshot-255x300.jpg\" alt=\"thumbnail_Abby headshot\" width=\"255\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_Abby-headshot-255x300.jpg 255w, https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/thumbnail_Abby-headshot.jpg 458w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 255px) 100vw, 255px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Abby Johnson,\u00a0former\u00a0Planned Parenthood\u00a0clinic director\u00a0of\u00a08 years,\u00a0now\u00a0owns a non-profit called And Then There Were None. This organization focuses on removing employees\u00a0who are unhappy\u00a0with working at\u00a0Planned Parenthood\u00a0out of\u00a0that career and into a new one. Johnson has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Arts in counseling from Sam Houston State University.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson left Planned Parenthood after she witnessed an ultra-sound guided abortion, changing her view on reproductive rights.\u00a0Ever since Johnson has been traveling around the country sharing her story and talking to groups of people about her experiences.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:\u00a0What is a common issue today facing young adults who want to get politically involved?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0One of the most common issues that young adults face today when it comes to getting involved in political work is that it has turned into us\u00a0vs them mentality, a popularity war, and a battle of gimmicks. If you go against the grain and voice your own political opinion,\u00a0then you are risking being ousted from your peer group, harassed, and bullied into silence. This\u00a0has to\u00a0stop,\u00a0and we must return to a mature and civil conversation.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:\u00a0How do you recommend students\u00a0overcome\u00a0these challenges?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0Conversation geared toward conversion. We need to put down our arguments and not return evil for evil. Whether the discussion is about abortion, gun control, party lines, presidency, whatever, hear the person, affirm their hurt, offer resources, and remind them that it’s okay if you don’t agree on everything, you still value them and appreciate hearing their side. Create dialogue, not more division. We can debate any time of day, but when we are given a unique opportunity to create trust and [a] relationship, just drop the back and forth and be present with this human being in front of you and show them respect as a person, prayerfully they will reciprocate that when they see that you do not have verbal boxing gloves on.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:\u00a0What importance does education hold in your career path?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0Education is very important to me,\u00a0yet I recognize that it is not the education but what we do with it that makes or breaks our character. There are many political leaders who have graduated at the top of their class with honors yet deny the science of what makes a baby human,\u00a0and there are people we will interact within this world that come from poverty and who never finished any type of formal education. They will do work that humbles and wows us. With that, having a solid education is always in everyone’s best interest,\u00a0and those with formal education are often taken more seriously in society,\u00a0so it can’t hurt to prioritize our educational goals. I am just shy of 40 and working on my doctorate,\u00a0so I’m living that example! If ever we stop learning, we set ourselves up for failure!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:\u00a0Who was your biggest inspiration when choosing your field of work? Past or present.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0For my present field of work I would have to say that my biggest inspiration would be my children because I want so desperately for them to live in a world where life is valued. Also, the women who have been harmed by the industry and all the lives that have been lost are a huge inspiration and motivation for me to put my all into this work. They deserve our very best advocacy and efforts.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:\u00a0What is an issue facing young adults who want to get involved in your current line of work?\u00a0How do you recommend young adults overcome these challenges?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0Funding is a big issue. A large percentage of the work in the pro-life movement is volunteer-based. Some people cannot afford to quit their day job,\u00a0and their schedules don’t allow a lot of flexibility. There are amazing young people who would be great hires if only the funding allowed for that. Another thing they face is that there are a lot of people in this movement who don’t want fresh ideas, they\u00a0(the pro-life industry)\u00a0like the way they do things.\u00a0It\u2019s how they (the pro-life industry)\u00a0have always done them. Young people often come in with a fresh set of eyes and offer change and suggestions,\u00a0and they can be dropped\u00a0fairly\u00a0fast\u00a0by those who don’t want change. I think we need both the wisdom of the older generation and the freshness and reliability of the younger generation to succeed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q:\u00a0What is something that you wish you knew before entering your current field of work?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A:\u00a0Honestly, I’m kind of thankful that I didn’t know what I do now about the pro-life movement. There are so many wonderful things happening but there are also some difficult things as well. Being blindsided has had\u00a0its\u00a0challenges but if I knew, I may have hesitated or walked the other way. I’m here, I’m working hard around the clock, and that’s all that matters now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abby Johnson,\u00a0former\u00a0Planned Parenthood\u00a0clinic director\u00a0of\u00a08 years,\u00a0now\u00a0owns a non-profit called And Then There Were None. This organization focuses on removing employees\u00a0who are unhappy\u00a0with working at\u00a0Planned Parenthood\u00a0out of\u00a0that career and into a new one. Johnson has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Texas A&M University and a Master of Arts in counseling<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"two_page_speed":[],"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nationalnews","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4j5eQ-3OM","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14680"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14753,"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14680\/revisions\/14753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebottomlinenews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}