Tonya P. is a former abortion facility worker who wrote the memoir From Behind Closed Doors: Abortions, Women, and their Choices, in which she discusses her time working in the abortion industry. Nowhere in the book does Tonya indicate that she is now pro-life. Yet she paints a negative picture of her time as an abortion worker.
Early in the book, she describes how she was hired at the facility. When she applied for the job, she was working in a warehouse, but wanted to work in the medical field. She wanted to find a job as a medical assistant, but could not get hired anywhere. She kept being turned down at doctor’s offices, hospitals and clinics because she had no experience. When she interviewed at the abortion facility, however, they did not seem overly concerned about her lack of credentials. She says:
I was beginning to give up hope, and I was starting to think that I had gone to school for nothing, for something that I couldn’t even get a job in, and I was still paying on a student loan. Anyway, I was so glad to hear that it wouldn’t be a problem, ‘cause I’ve been working in the warehouse for two long years and I was tired of working at that warehouse. It was hard work with no good pay…
Their main concern was how I did feel about abortion [sic] and I said that I was pro-choice, and that was all they wanted to hear, and that was the end of the interview.…
Finally, I could work in the field as a medical assistant.1
If Tonya’s characterization is accurate, the abortion facility was only concerned with her views on abortion, not her medical skills. All they wanted to hear was that she was pro-choice. She was hired as soon as she convinced them of her dedication to abortion.
The fact that the facility’s “main concern” was with Tonya’s views — not her medical knowledge — is very telling.
Tonya is not the only former abortion worker who says they were hired because of their pro-choice views.
Former abortion worker Kathy Sparks says that her pro-choice views heavily influenced her hiring:
Let me tell you, as all of the former abortionists will tell you, that they really want to make sure that you are pro-choice before they hire you, and I really was. I did not have to convince them; it was obvious. They did put me through a second interview, however; they wanted to make doubly sure that they were hiring someone who was pro-choice.
She made these comments at a conference sponsored by the Pro-Life Action League. You can see a video of speeches from the conference here.
Abortionist Susan Poppema said the following in a pro-choice book called Abortion: A Positive Decision:
We choose people to work [at the abortion facility] based on their political commitment as well as their medical capabilities. We can teach people what they need to know medically, but we cannot teach them political commitment; we can encourage it, but we can’t teach that as well.2
In this way, Poppema prioritized pro-abortion views above medical training.
As former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson often says, no one grows up wanting to work in an abortion facility. Abortion facilities often have trouble finding people who want to work in the abortion industry. They also have to make sure that the people they hire are very dedicated to the pro-abortion mindset. After all, their workers have to look at mutilated parts of aborted babies on a daily basis. If the worker is not very committed to promoting abortion, they do not last long as an employee.
Former Planned Parenthood worker Catherine Adair gives examples of what abortion facility workers deal with:
I was a medical assistant in the room for hundreds of abortions. I witnessed the baby being suctioned out of the uterus and watched blood and tissue work it’s way through the tube into a metal bowl. The baby was dismembered during the process. The nurse would account for the baby parts and put it into a baggy, which I then put in a box with the other aborted babies. We then had to count them at the end of the day to ensure we had all of them to go to the lab.
When I saw a second trimester abortion, I saw dismembered arms and legs, with perfect feet and hands.
It is obvious that only someone with a strong pro-abortion commitment (and a strong stomach) could work in an abortion facility. By making absolutely sure that the people they hire support abortion, abortion facility owners try to ensure that the workers don’t quit.
The fact that pro-abortion ideology is more important than actual medical skills when hiring shows a lack of concern for women. The emphasis is not on quality medical care. The priority was to hire people who were comfortable selling abortions, not to hire the most qualified people. This gives an idea of the standards of the abortion industry.
- Tonya P From Behind Closed Doors: Abortions, Women, and their Choices (Xlibris, 2013) 10 – 11
- Patricia Launneborg Abortion: A Positive Decision (New York: Bergin & Garvey, 1992) 189
