October 4, 1922 – April 28, 1962

“If you must choose between me and the baby, no hesitation; Choose—and I demand it—the baby,
Save him!”

Gianna Beretta Molla was an Italian doctor, wife, and mother who refused to have either an abortion or hysterectomy when she was pregnant with her fourth child. Doctors had discovered in the second month of her pregnancy a fibroma tumor in her uterus. As a doctor, Gianna knew the consequences of not fully treating the fibroma. She chose the life of her child over her own.

On the morning of April 21, 1962, a healthy baby girl was born, Gianna Emanuela. Her mother died of septic peritonitis a week after the birth. Gianna was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1994, during the international year of the family and was
canonized on May 16, 2004.