Gianna Jessen

This article from the London Times regarding babies surviving abortion has been making the rounds. Everything I could say about the subject has already been said (Rhymes With Right has some great commentary).

I wanted to mention Gianna Jessen, who appears at the end of the Times article. Her story is unspeakably amazing. Not only did she survive the attempt on her very young life, but she now RUNS IN MARATHONS. Excuse me? I'd wager that most of our readers haven't survived murder attempts and, say, don't have cerebral palsy and still wouldn't be able to do that (I know this is true of me, anyway). She did the Music City Marathon last year (there was a great article on her in The Tennessean a while back--I'd link it, but the paper's website is evil and makes you pay to read the archives), and the Times bit says she's preparing for another one over there.

I find her name particularly fascinating. According to this account, Gianna's biological mother named her. Something tells me the 17-year-old Tina didn't know anything about St. Gianna Beretta Molla (who wouldn't even be venerated for another 14 years after Gianna Jessen was born), but I'm pretty sure St. Gianna must have known about her and her baby.

File Under: Miscellany, Art/Media