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At the beginning of the act, why does Elizabeth want John to go to Salem?

At the beginning of Act II, Elizabeth Proctor wants her husband, John, to go to Salem to tell the courts what Abigail Williams, his former lover and the chief accuser in these trials, told him.  When they were alone momentarily during Act I, in Reverend Parris's house, Abigail told John that Betty was not bewitched, that the girls were just dancing in the forest and Betty got scared when her father jumped out of the trees.  Now, in Act II, people are being legally charged with the crime of witchcraft, while the girls make more accusations, and some of the accused are actually confessing in order to keep their necks from the noose.  Elizabeth wants John to tell the court what Abigail told him because it might help to prove that Abigail and the other girls are lying now, and then the accusations and trials could stop.

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