Abby Johnson Abby Johnson, former director of Planned Parenthood and convert to Catholicism, addressed the Republican National Convention in a video message that emphasized President Donald Trump’s actions for the pro-life cause.
The outspoken pro-life advocate said: “For most people who consider themselves pro-life, abortion is abstract. They can’t even conceive of the barbarity…but for me, abortion is very real.”
Another convention speaker was Nicholas Sandmann, who was in the public spotlight a year and a half ago when he was a junior at Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky. A video of him with other students interacting with Native American protesters went viral accusing the students, wearing “Make America Great Again” caps, of bigotry.
Sandmann’s family has subsequently settled defamation lawsuits against The Washington Post and CNN.
In his taped convention speech, he said that incident made him feel the “full war machine of the mainstream media”.
“I learned that what was happening to me had a name. It was called being cancelled. Cancelled is what’s happening to people around this country who refuse to be silenced by the far left. Many are being fired, humiliated, or even threatened.”
Sr Deirdre Byrne, a sister of the Little Workers of the Sacred Heart and a surgeon who joined religious life while serving in the US Army, addressed the convention on August 26.
“As followers of Christ, we are called to stand up for life against the politically correct or fashionable of today. We must fight against a legislative agenda that supports and even celebrates destroying life in the womb,” she said.
“President Trump will stand up against Biden-Harris, who are the most anti-life presidential ticket ever, even supporting the horrors of late-term abortion and infanticide,” she said of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris.
Biden has not explicitly expressed support for late-term abortions. The former vice president has said he wants to see the Supreme Court’s Roe vs Wade decision codified in law and supports federal funding for Planned Parenthood.