In a culture where the emphasis on self-fulfillment is the goal for personal happiness, the pro-life witness of a mother in Italy in the 1960s is rather counter-cultural. Gianna Beretta Molla was a Catholic wife, mother, and medical doctor, who sacrificed her life for her baby. She was an ordinary, contemporary working woman, who believed wholeheartedly in the dignity of every human being, including those in the womb, even to the very end of her earthly life. She is a much-needed saint in our present culture, which Pope St. John Paul II identified as a “culture of death” in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”).
To be able to fully appreciate the pro-life impact which the sacrifice of this woman has on today’s society, it is important to reflect on the present scourge of abortion, specifically in the United States.
The Scourge of Abortion
There are many reasons for a woman to have an abortion: poverty, lack of family support, sexual assault, or medical complications putting her life at risk, just to name a few. Whatever the reason, it is very difficult, serious, and heart-wrenching for everyone involved.
Be that as it may, no one can deny the overwhelming increase in contraception and abortion worldwide for the past six decades. Just in 2020 alone, in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center and the CDC, there were over six hundred thousand abortions. Hundreds of thousands of babies were being aborted yearly. Then came a major blow to the abortion advocates.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization saw the overturning of Roe v. Wade, returning the issue of abortion to the states. Pro-life advocates were ecstatic at this turnaround, and the hope was that the abortion rate would go down given that thirteen states enacted bans on abortion and six states implemented early gestational restrictions. Yet quite the opposite has happened; in the three-and-a-half years since the Dobbs ruling, abortion rates have increased in the United States.
According to an April 10, 2026, article in OSV, abortion provider Planned Parenthood’s “latest annual report reflects its fiscal year as of June 30, 2025,” and shows that they “performed 434,450 abortions, an increase of over 32,200, or 8%, from the previous year’s report.” Furthermore, according to a January 7, 2026, article in KFF, the steady increase in yearly abortions is due in part to the rise in virtual healthcare compared to in-person medical exams, the ability to receive abortion pills through the mail (“Medication abortion via telehealth now accounts for 27% of all abortions.”), and the increase in interstate travel for abortion access across state lines which “nearly doubled from 2020 to 2024, with Illinois, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Kansas experiencing the highest volume of out-of-state abortion patients last year.”
These data demonstrate that the abortion industry is growing stronger despite the achievement of overturning Roe v. Wade, with the monthly average of abortions increasing every year.
This is why pro-life groups remain tireless in their efforts advocating for the lives of the unborn. This is also why the story of Gianna Beretta Molla is so important. She was a modern woman who refused the recommendation of her doctors to undergo a hysterectomy to save her own life because it would have killed her child in her womb.
A Modern Saint for the Present Culture
Given the proliferation of contraception and abortion in our society, the story of St. Gianna is both essential and inspiring for the pro-life cause. So, who was this woman? Let us explore her legacy.
Gianna Beretta was born in Magenta, Italy, in 1922. A fervent Catholic, she was an active member of the community and of her church. She lost both her parents when she was twenty years old. She persevered through her studies at the University of Milan and graduated as a medical doctor and a surgeon in 1949. This was also the year she met her future husband, Pietro Molla, an engineer.
Gianna specialized in pediatrics in 1952, opened her own medical clinic near Milan and provided care for mothers, babies, the elderly, and the poor. She was an active member of Catholic Action. In short, she was an ordinary, modern working woman who lived according to her faith.
Gianna and Pietro persevered through six pregnancies in all, with Gianna losing two of her unborn babies in miscarriages before her final high-risk preganacy in 1962. It was during her sixth and final pregnancy that Gianna was diagnosed with a uterine tumor: “She allowed the surgeons to remove the tumor but not to perform the complete hysterectomy that they recommended, which would have killed the child.” Gianna was determined to save the life of her unborn baby, at great risk to herself. Being a doctor and surgeon herself, she was quite informed about the dangers involved if she continued with the pregnancy.
On April 21, 1962, the couple’s fourth child, Gianna Emanuela, was safely delivered by a Caesarian section.
After the birth of her daughter, Gianna was weak, ill, and bedridden. She would have only one week with her beloved child, husband, and three other children. The 2004 documentary Love is a choice is a must-see. In it, Pietro recounts that final week with his wife. Gianna fully realized and accepted that she was dying. She had no regrets. The life of her child came first. She had made the choice for both love and life.
Gianna Beretta Molla, beloved wife and mother, died of peritonitis on April 28, 1962, at the age of thirty-nine.
In 1980, the cause for beatification of this heroic wife and mother began, paving the way for her eventual beatification in 1994. Ten years later, Gianna was canonized by Pope St. John Paul II, on May 16, 2004, with her husband and children in attendance. It was very moving to see her grown daughter, who’d been saved by her mother’s decision. She is a medical doctor just like her beloved mother, who is now the patron saint of doctors. How very fitting.
In closing, may a culture of life permeate the world. May the holy example of St. Gianna Beretta Molla inspire women everywhere, and may they choose love and life always.
St. Gianna Beretta Molla, pray for us.
Author’s Note: This article was adapted from the original, March 21, 2026, longer version, previously published on my website.
Photo by Muhamad Harun Rabiyudin on Unsplash
Image from Wikimedia Commons
