A North Dakota maternity home is celebrating its 20^th anniversary as well as the birth of over 150 babies from mothers who have used their services. 20 years ago, Mary Pat Jahner of Warsaw, North Dakota was a Catholic teacher who spent her summers volunteering at maternity homes through the Missionaries of Charity. Her work at the maternity homes inspired her to start her own in North Dakota, and thus the St. Gianna & Pietro Molla Maternity Home was born, built out of a converted convent. “Prior to starting St. Gianna’s, I’d often been sad when, as a high-school teacher, I watched numerous young girls forced into abortions — many driven to their abortion appointments by their own parents,” Jahner told The National Review earlier this year. The home was named after Gianna Beretta Molla, an Italian pediatrician who chose to have her baby despite being told to abort it due to medical complications. She was canonized in 2004, the year after the home opened and serves as the patroness of doctors, mothers, wives, families and the unborn. Her husband, Pietro, was later added to the home’s name.

Three to four women live at the home at a time and receive prenatal care, educational needs, and spiritual support through required mass attendance. “They’re sacrificing, they’re making hard choices because, obviously, if they need to come to a maternity home, not everything is perfect in their life,” Jahner told Fox News of the women that come to the home. Many of the women have little family support and the home provides that support to them too. “We are also their family when they leave. So many times, the people who come here are alone in this world, or they don’t have functional family or people they can depend on. They’re living couch to couch.” Sometimes, that family atmosphere becomes even more personal. Despite being single, Jahner has adopted three girls through the home. In 2004, Jahner’s oldest daughter Kassity, moved in with her pregnant mother. The baby, Geianna, was born soon after. Their mother’s mental illness and addiction kept her from being able to mother her daughters, leading to Jahner taking them in. Jahner’s youngest, Aubrey, is seven, and was born at the Gianna Home.

During its twenty years, the home has seen several successes, including over 150 babies being born. Many women are able to obtain jobs, get married, and have their own families after their stay at the home. It serves as a strong model for pro-life advocates in a post-Roe world. Republican Governor Doug Burgom passed laws in North Dakota that eliminated taxes on diapers; expanded Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits for pregnant individuals; and provided additional funding to the alternatives-to-abortion program- funding that would go to places like the Giana Home. Such initiatives are seeming more an more necessary to pass as Republicans attempt to court public opinion in favor of pro-life policies. Jahner calls her work a blessing and works to be part of that post-Roe world.