Friday 29 March 2024

Abortion survivor to attend Rally4Life on Sunday

Gianna Jessen, an abortion survivor, is taking part in a Rally4Life outside Parliament on Sunday, 6 December, 2015. Participants in the rally will gather on Castille Square and at 2 p.m. will start a silent march down Merchants Street, along St John’s Street and up Republic Street, ending in front of the new Parliament building.
Dr Miriam Sciberras, President of LifeNetwork Malta, said Sunday’s rally is part of a campaign by local pro-life groups in favour of the protection of life from conception. “This is something to cherish. We want to save the Embryo Protection Act so that we will not open a window that could eventually lead to the legalisation of abortion,” she said.
“Gianna is here because she is in favour of the protection of life from conception. The proposed amendments to the law put this in danger. Embryo freezing will subject 10-30% of human embryos to certain death on thawing. We also want our children to know who their genetic parents are and we do not want the intentional creation of surplus embryos. Having children who are conceived anonymously intentionally is not a sign of progress.”
These pro-life groups launched a petition against the abolition of the Embryo Protection Act and have so far collected hundreds of signatures, with many more still to be collected. As part of this campaign, Dr Joanna Rose, who was conceived via an anonymous donor, met the press and went on TV to speak about the harm to children from donor conception.
Ms Jessen, whose visit is sponsored by LifeNetwork Malta, Gift of Life and Magnificat Malta, will be giving her testimony, followed by a discussion at the University of Malta on Monday, 7 December, 2015, at 2 p.m. She invites students to meet her on campus. She is campaigning with ‘Malta Stand up for Life’, to focus on the protection of human life from conception. She will also appear on Xarabank on TVM on 4 December, 2015.
Ms Jessen’s life has been a short path littered with obstacles at every turn: a life that was never meant to be has been used to inspire – even save – others. Gianna Jessen was intended to die before she was born, just another one of the 1.2 million abortions each year in the United States.
Gianna was bathed in a burning saline solution in an attempt to kill her in the womb, yet she survived and was born alive. Two months premature and weighing just 900 g (2 lb), she spent her first few months in hospital. From there, she entered the foster care system. The failed abortion also provided the ‘gift’ of cerebral palsy, as she calls it: “It allows me to really depend on Jesus for everything.”
It also labelled her a hopeless case – an infant who was in the care of the state and for whom the expectations of achievement were extremely low. Doctors predicted Gianna would never even lift her head. She showed them: she began walking as an infant and has grown into a woman who has run marathons.
Halls of government have yielded floor time to hear her story as well. Gianna has testified before the Australian Parliament, the British House of Commons and the US Congress. Her testimony appeals to a wide audience.
“I’m invading the culture as an unconventional woman, just being me,” she says. “The beautiful thing about having cerebral palsy is it’s part of my sermon. It’s my way of reminding the earth that heaven is real. My legs have become a net to act as a fisher of men.”

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