*Note: The stories shared by And Then There Were None about the courageous Quitters of the abortion industry are deep, personal, and sometimes very raw testimonials of the lives of those who have worked behind the scenes of abortion and have come out on the other side, often wounded, but nevertheless triumphant. We begin this year with a diversion from …
Quitter of the Month: Annette Lopez
Annette Lopez with Dave Franco I LIKED WHAT I DID FOR A LIVING. Between 2005 and 2010 I was working for the Planned Parenthood Los Angeles Teen Center seeking out schools and organizations that would allow me and the other educators in the office to make presentations about sex to middle and high school aged kids. Kids needed, especially in …
Quitter of the Month: Annette Sosa-Rodriquez
In the driver’s seat of the van that drove us deep into the heart of Texas in sweltering summer heat was a white girl driving and talking to her white co-passenger about Pokemon Go. The rest of us black and brown girls sat in the back not entirely sure if where they told us we were going was actually where …
Quitter of the Month: Sonia Torrez
When my husband started going to church after his mom passed away, I began to go with him despite not wanting to attend. That is when everything began to change for me; when my heart could no longer accept where I was in the world, and what horrors I was seeing and contributing to day after day. Of course, there …
Quitter of the Month: Shelley Guillory
You would think that a clinic that was going to lie about what they hired you for might wait a little bit before revealing the truth. But it was on my very second day that I drove up and saw a packed parking lot. “All these ladies are here for contraception? Is there a run on the stuff?” I said …
Quitter of the Month: Noemi Padilla
The tragedy of working at the women’s clinic is how slowly but surely they took me away from me. It’s slow enough that you can’t see it coming, and slow enough to put the fear of God in you with the eventual realization that the person you’ve become is now the real you. Of course, it didn’t start out that …
Quitter of the Month: Myra Neyer
The day that I heard my coworker gasp loudly was a fateful one. I was just outside the room where she was performing an ultrasound on a young, shy, petite black girl. Wondering what would make her react that way, I ran in to find her with her hand over her mouth, staring at the screen. I quickly stepped around …
Quitter of the Month: Priscilla Hurley
I WAS 25 YEARS OLD WHEN MY BOYFRIEND BEGAN PUSHING ME TO SEE A DOCTOR and take care of a little mistake we had made. I did not want to do that. But he was a law student pursuing his dream career, and a real catch, I thought. I was in love with him and didn’t want to disappoint. Besides, …
Quitter of the Month: Julie Wilkinson
I FELT CERTAIN THAT THE REASON why I was able to take the job at a Boulder, Colorado abortion clinic was because I was raised by parents who were enthusiastically pro-choice. My dad, a physician, and my mom, a nurse, were a liberal couple, whose outlook on life lined up with Planned Parenthood and NARAL—organizations to whom they donated money. …
Quitter of the Month: Caroline Strzesynski
IF I HAD TO CHOOSE THE MOMENT the Enemy began to lose his grip on me, it was during my pregnancy with my daughter. I was glowing as life grew within me and loved all the body changes that accompanied. I had been working for Planned Parenthood for six years at the time. Unfortunately, as the pregnancy progressed, stress at …