Gianna Beretta Molla
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla is the patron of mothers, of the unborn, and of the pro-life movement because of the single heroic choice that defined her death: a practicing pediatrician pregnant with her fourth child, she was found in 1962 to have a uterine tumor and refused both the abortion and the hysterectomy that would have saved her own life at the cost of the baby’s, insisting that if a choice had to be made, the child must live. Her daughter was born safely; Gianna died of complications a week later. Because she was herself a physician who chose her patient’s life over her own, she is also the patron of doctors — a wife, mother, and professional woman canonized in 2004 as a model of self-giving love.
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla was an Italian pediatrician and mother who chose to sacrifice her own life rather than terminate her pregnancy or undergo treatment that would harm her unborn child. Born in 1922, she was a modern professional woman, physician, and devoted mother. During her fourth pregnancy in 1962, she was diagnosed with a uterine tumor and chose to carry her baby to term. She died a week after giving birth.
