Live Action honors Kathy Ireland, Gov. Kevin Stitt, and Sisters of Life at 2023 Life Awards Gala

Live Action held its fourth annual Life Awards Gala on September 23, 2023, in Dana Point, California. The event celebrated pro-life champions who have offered an exceptional example in promoting the cause of life. 

“Tonight we recognize some of our nation’s greatest defenders of life. Each life awardee was carefully selected for their courage, commitment, and sacrifice to help create a world where every child is treasured,” Live Action Vice President of External Relations Kimberly Bird told the crowd. “These inspiring honorees have shown uncompromising and compassionate defense of preborn children and their families through their dedicated work and courageous impact.”

This year’s recipients were supermodel and human rights activist Kathy Ireland, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt, and the Sisters of Life, a religious order dedicated to advancing the culture of life.

Kathy Ireland

The first awardee, Kathy Ireland, explained she wasn’t always pro-life. In fact, she maintained her pro-abortion beliefs even after becoming a Christian at age 18.

“As a young adult, I identified as a pro-choice Christian. It just shows you the state of our nation. How does that happen?” she said.

It wasn’t until she was in her forties that Ireland really read God’s Word in the Bible and realized that abortion goes against God. She used her story as a rally call for churches. “We’ve got to wake up our churches. We’ve got to wake up!” she exhorted.

She also called on post-abortive women to turn to God. “To the women who’ve had abortions, the estimation is one in four, just know that nothing is too big for God,” she said. “We bring it to him, we repent. He redeems and restores.”

Governor Kevin Stitt

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt was the evening’s next awardee. Known as the nation’s “most pro-life governor,” Stitt has signed into law legislation that protects preborn children from the moment of fertilization. 

Stitt also emphasized the importance of fathers in the family, adding that Oklahoma is working to promote fatherhood. “As the family goes, so goes society,” he said. “Kids need their moms, and they need their dads.”

Sisters of Life

The final awardee, the Sisters of Life, was represented by three members of their order: Sister Bethany Madonna, Sister Magnificat, and Sister Agnus Dei. In her speech on behalf of the community, Sister Bethany Madonna told the crowd, “What the world needs is more love. Perfect love casts out fear. And fear is at the root of every decision against life. So many choosing abortion are being driven by fear… Perfect love casts out fear, and so we need saints, prophets, and martyrs to meet the needs of this day. There are some things worth dying for, and life and truth are worth dying for. The truth of the dignity of every human person.”

She ended the speech with a call to action for all in attendance.

“Each one of you here has been summoned, and, like Queen Esther, for such a time as this. The first summons is to receive the gift of your own life from the one who made you. God willed you and loved you into being. He chose you and delighted in you, and He delights in you now,” she said.

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear | Sr. Bethany Madonna at the 2023 Live Action Life Awards Gala

“So tonight, let us renew a commitment to prayer, to making a daily encounter with our good Father, and his merciful Son, and the power of the Holy Spirit alive at work in our hearts. Let us repent of any way that we have lost sight of God, any way that we have not reverenced our own lives or the lives of others, and let us deepen our dependence so that everything we do flows from that inner source of living water.”