Abby Johnson joins COL 1972 for a fashion show and panel discussion, sharing their anti-abortion platform

Students and Lynchburg locals gathered Saturday morning for a “Leaping for Life” fashion show and brunch, produced as a joint effort between Culture of Life 1972 and Students for Life. 

The event took place in the LaHaye Event Space from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Attendees socialized over brunch for the first portion, before Carla and Vittoria D’Addesi came to the stage to explain the heart behind their family business, Culture of Life 1972 (COL). The clothing line offers street wear alternatives for conservative shoppers seeking to support businesses who do not use profits to support organizations like Planned Parenthood, which is difficult to find in the current fashion industry. 

Additionally, 10% of earnings from each COL purchase fund a pro-life event or organization sponsored by the brand. 

“We did a little research, and there is no other fashion brand that gives back to the pro-life movement, so we started our own,” Vittoria D’Addesi said. 

Former abortion clinic director and current pro-life activist Abby Johnson spoke following the fashion show. Johnson was brought onto the COL team last year as a global ambassador for the brand. Johnson is well known for her memoir “Unplanned,” which was made into a movie in 2019. 

In her former position with Planned Parenthood, Johnson would often escort patients past pro-life protesters standing at the fence of the clinic. After resigning from her job after watching an ultrasound of an abortion being performed, Johnson would go to this fence to join the protesters in prayer herself. 

“That’s where I say my healing really first started,” Johnson said. “It was the first time I had come face-to-face with what I had done, and looking at the building through this fence that I had chosen to put up … I started to weep.”

Johnson expounded on the fact that the pro-choice argument has moved from the “mass of cells” stance to a “bodily autonomy” stance. 

“Nobody really believes the mass of cells argument anymore, and Planned Parenthood doesn’t really use that anymore … ultrasound technology has been around since the ’80s … nobody is denying that there is a child in the womb,” Johnson said. “What they’re doing now is claiming that it’s a woman’s choice, it’s her body and she gets to choose. But if it is really (just) her body, then a woman would be aborting herself.” 

The importance of presenting truth with love and kindness when presenting a pro-life argument is vital according to Johnson, who explained that although many of the protesters she encountered were kind, some were extremely harsh – which built up walls that were difficult to break down. 

“You want to be loving, you want to be compassionate, you want to be grace-filled,” Johnson said. “You have the opportunity to show (the other side) who Christ is.”

The event ended with a panel including influencers Joel Patrick and Elisha Steele, who shared why they are a part of the “life tribe” and joined Carla D’Addesi and Johnson to answer questions from the crowd. 

Hamer is a news reporter. Follow her on Twitter.