Abigail "Abby" Whelan is the sassy judgmental member of the crisis management team at Olivia Pope's consulting firm, Olivia Pope & Associates.

Abby was married for 4 years to Charles Putney, the youngest son of former Virginia Governor James Putney. This was apparently an arranged political marriage. She left him when he beat her in a drunken rage. When he fractured three of her ribs, broke her jaw and threw her out into the snow in her nightgown, Olivia Pope took a tire iron to his knee cap. She then got Abby the best divorce attorney in the state and got her out of that marriage, since then Abby shows her loyalty to Olivia, and becoming one of Olivia's reliable associates.

She got involved with David Rosen, an Assistant U.S. Attorney, who was investigating Olivia Pope. At that time, she helped him with his investigation. Olivia did not want her to help David get closer to the truth, so she had Harrison Wright plant false information that David beat his ex-girlfriend to break Abby and David up.