Gianna Beretta Molla

Gianna Beretta Molla (4 October 1922 – 28 April 1962) was an Italian Roman Catholic pediatrician. She was canonized as a saint of the Catholic Church in 2004. Molla refused both an abortion and a hysterectomy when she was diagnosed with a fibroma on her uterus during her fourth pregnancy. She chose to have the fibroma removed but to continue the pregnancy, fully aware that this could cause her death. She gave birth to a daughter, Gianna Emanuela, on 21 April 1962, and died a week later of septic peritonitis. She is the patron saint of mothers, physicians, and unborn children.