While “sweet” is usually the first adjective that comes to mind when one hears the name Caroline, the Caroline who our tribe of Quitters at And Then There Were None have come to know, and love is more than that. She is dignified. She possesses a quiet strength and poise like a lioness ready to protect her young, but only if provoked.
Caroline had never heard of And Then There Were None when she left Planned Parenthood in 2012. Her exposure to the abortion industry started as a recovery nurse in an abortion clinic, and when she made the decision to finally walk away from the industry twelve years later, she was a lead clinician.
“Planned Parenthood paid for my education to get my Masters. I loved my job and thought I would retire there,” she said. “My goal was to prevent unwanted pregnancies. I placed IUDs, removed old Norplants, did colposcopies and vulvar biopsies — things a physician would do. I was passionate about my job.”
Although Caroline had grown up in the church, neither she nor her husband had a relationship with God. She became a mother herself, and God began to work on her heart.
“After I became a mother, I made the decision to return to work part-time,” she said. “To say they did not support my choice would be an understatement. They made things very difficult for me and I felt myself becoming bitter.”
Since she had experienced a church family as a child, she decided to start attending again to find support. Her husband, Scott, was not a believer at the time and had no interest in going.
“I would take the kids to church solo,” she said. “I would share with Scott about what we were learning. It wasn’t until neighbors we both enjoyed invited us to Bible study when he agreed to come along. Nine years after I became a Christian, Scott did as well.”
In time, she felt conflicted about her work as a clinician at Planned Parenthood, but one final day at the sister affiliate was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
She was sent to a Planned Parenthood sister affiliate to learn about Nexplanon, a hormonal birth control device that is implanted in the arm. “The abortion facility was so bleak and sad. Women were just lined up. I started to see the life within. I started to realize what I was doing was impacting generations.”
“The abortionist’s behavior was unacceptable, and the staff knew it,” she said. “She was late, immature, and unprofessional. She allowed her resident to do things he should not have been doing.”
Caroline recalls one woman in particular who had just endured a suction abortion and was lying on the table with groans of pain. “You are consenting to this, right?” the abortionist said, almost as an afterthought, referring to the birth control device which was to be placed.
“The woman just wanted it all to be over. She was obviously cramping and in pain. A staff member took the post-abortive patient’s credit card, left the room to go to the front desk to run the card for the cost of the birth control device before they proceeded. They just let her lie there. There was zero compassion
or informed consent.” Caroline left that day without doing any of the procedures she was sent there to do. She knew her time with Planned Parenthood was over.
Caroline had carpooled to the sister affiliate that day with her manager. On the way home, her manager told her about the new quotas. Caroline asked her manager why there would be abortion quotas, as she had always been of a mindset that the entire goal of Planned Parenthood was to reduce the number of abortions.
“She just laughed at me,” Caroline said. “She told me that’s what we want the public to believe. I always believed the thing about abortion being only 3% of what Planned Parenthood did. Suddenly I understood that it was all a total lie. I honestly thought that Planned Parenthood was a true non-profit. I knew I had been bamboozled.”
Caroline informed her manager she had seen enough. She was done. While her decision was respected, they did try to lure her back with money.
“There is no amount of money you could offer me to keep me here,” she told them.
Despite her resolution, this was scary and uncharted territory for Caroline. While her husband worked to provide for the family, she had always been the primary breadwinner and held the family’s benefits for many years. Despite working part-time, she made good money.
“I’ve always had an unhealthy relationship with money,” she said. “I am basically Dave Ramsey’s love child,” Caroline said with a laugh. “I needed to know I was going to have enough for retirement, savings, investments. I slowed down. I changed my perspective. God taught me I could make do with less.”
Although Caroline had been conditioned to not trust pregnancy centers, a friend connected her to the director of a nearby center. The director listened intently to Caroline’s story and knew it was no accident Abby Johnson would be speaking at an upcoming gala.
“Although I was wary, the longer I was in that pregnancy center, the less unworthy I felt to even be there,” Caroline said. “I met Abby and her assistant, and shortly after, I went on my first retreat with And Then There Were None. The retreat was so therapeutic for me. We just dug through everything and then we dealt with it. Before, I had no one to talk to. I can’t describe how wonderful it was to have a sisterhood.”
When Caroline says she felt a kinship and a sisterhood with her tribe of fellow Quitters, she means it. Even to the extent of getting tested, finding out she was a match, and donating a kidney to a Quitter who would have surely died without her sacrifice.
“When I learned I was a match, I kind of panicked. However, I knew God had our lives in His hands,” Caroline said. “Start to finish, the entire process took nine months. I was so concerned she was going to die before we could get everything done.”
As He always does, God had it under control. Shelley, the recipient of Caroline’s kidney, and her husband Donald are doing great and enjoying their new lease on life. Scott and Donald have become good buddies and enjoy trading Dad jokes. The tribe of Quitters often refer to Donald and Scott as their “mascots.”
In the eleven years since Caroline made the decision to quit being a health care provider for Planned Parenthood, her quiet strength and boldness have served her well. In a field where hormonal and other types of birth control are the bread and butter, Caroline instead felt comfortable with a more wholistic and natural approach. She wanted to empower women to take charge of their own fertility.
“I told the practice where I work, I would no longer be providing birth control,” she said. “I learned about NaPro (Natural Procreative Technology) and the Creighton Model FertilityCare System. Now, I teach women about their fertility, identify problems in the menstrual cycle for further care, and how to avoid or achieve pregnancy using Creighton.”
In addition, Caroline, who used to oversee hormonal and other forms of birth control for Planned Parenthood, started her own FertilityCare practice called Sofia’s Virtues, which she named after St. Sophia who had three daughters named Faith, Hope, and Love, who were all martyred for their faith.
“It is my goal to bring these virtues back into women’s healthcare. I trust God to lead me, and I know He will.”
If you are an abortion clinic worker considering reaching out to And Then There Were None, Caroline urges you to do so immediately.
“There is no reason to hesitate,” she said. “They are good at what they do—finding employment and meeting all the needs associated with leaving the industry from financial to licensed counseling. They cover every piece. You will have a family. The camaraderie is so important. There is strength in numbers.”
If you are a past or current abortion worker, call, text, or email us today. What do you have to lose? A kidney? (that is a joke… you could also gain a kidney!)
Caroline reflects on how her life has changed often.
“All I saw, and all I did was prevent pregnancy,” she said. “Now, I have the honor of helping those struggling to become parents become pregnant. I am grateful.”