Tenayah’s tiny body tells us something louder than any argument: that hers is a real life. Let us recognise that every baby in the womb is as real as she is.

When little Tenayah Gimbert arrived into the world, she weighed just 409 grams and was scarcely larger than her mothers hand.¹ Born at 22 weeks and 3 days her odds of survival were slim. Most babies born so early do not make it. Yet thanks to the extraordinary care at Brisbane’s Mater Mother’s Hospital, Tenayah is not only alive, but thriving. At just 128 days old, she has shown no signs of major complications, avoided surgery, and is now tipping the scales at a healthy three kilograms.

Screenshot from Sunrise on 7 Instagram account

Her story is rightly being hailed as a miracle, but is also something more. It is a reminder that even at 22 weeks, what we are speaking about is not a “bundle of cells” or merely a “foetus”. We are speaking about a baby – tiny and fragile but as real and human as any child in a postnatal ward.

The humanity of the unborn

To truly grasp the miracle of Tenayah’s life we must first recognise who she is and what every child in the womb is. She is unmistakably human. At 22 weeks, a baby has a beating heart that has been working since six weeks. Her brain is active, sending signals that control movement, swallowing, and even primitive sleep cycles. She has eyelashes, eyebrows, unique fingerprints, and tiny fingernails. She can move her arms and legs with purpose, responding to touch and sound. Her lungs are forming, her skin is thin but already covering a complete, small body. In fact, her proportions are recognisably those of a newborn – only smaller.²

Parents who see ultrasound scans at this stage often describe the shock of recognition, their child sucks a thumb, hiccups or stretches out a hand. These are not impersonal medical images, they are windows into the life of a son or a daughter who has a purpose in this world.

When Tenayah was born prematurely, no one mistook her for anything other than a baby. Nurses wrapped her in blankets, doctors fought for her survival, and her parents were in awe of how well she was doing. Her size did not diminish her humanity; it only underscored her fragility. She was not a ‘potential person’ suddenly made real by her early birth. She was the same child she had been the day before, only now visible to the world outside the womb.

This is why stories like Tenayah’s matter so deeply. They strip away the euphemisms that cloud our moral vision. Words like “foetus” or “tissue” may be clinically accurate, but they can be used to obscure rather than clarify. The reality is very clear: at 22 weeks we are looking at a baby who is capable of life outside the womb – and whose humanity does not depend on location.

Mater Hospital: saving lives not ending them

In recent months, the Mater Brisbane Hospital was heavily criticised in the media for refusing to provide abortions, accused of putting religion before women.³ Yet this very same hospital is one of only four in Queensland equipped to save babies born on the edge of viability. Without the skill and care of the team at the Mater, Tenayah would almost certainly not be alive.

The contrast could not be clearer. The Mater is condemned for refusing to end lives at the very same time it is demonstrating its extraordinary ability to preserve them.

The law in Queensland

The inconsistencies in abortion policies in Queensland is very evident. Under Queensland law, abortion is lawful on request up to 22 weeks gestation, with no reason required. Beyond that point, abortion is permitted right up until birth, provided two doctors agree it is appropriate.⁴

That means that at the age Tenayah is being celebrated as a miracle of modern medicine, other babies at the same stage of development can legally be aborted, and if before 22 weeks, on request with no reason required. It is difficult to reconcile this contradiction: in one hospital ward, a 22 week old baby is being fought for with every resource available, while in another, a 22 week old baby is being aborted.

Survival rates for very premature babies

Often at 22 weeks we would be told the chances of survival are very slim. But Tenayah’s life shows that behind every number is a child worth fighting for.

In Australia and New Zealand, five in ten babies admitted to the NICU at 23 weeks survive. This jumps up to seven in ten babies who survive at 24 weeks.⁵

These aren’t just statistics. They are children, thousands of them across the world, who now grow up to attend school, play and live full lives because someone believed they were worth saving.

And so the question becomes unavoidable. If five in ten babies born at 23 weeks gestation given care in Australia survive, how can we possibly turn around and say that babies of the same age in the womb are disposable?

Medicine is racing ahead, stretching the margins of viability further back every year. Yet our laws disregard that completely, allowing Queenslanders to kill unborn babies at any stage. It is in some ways a cruel irony that we can cheer on the survival of a 22 week old baby in one room while providing for the destruction of a life in another.

A hopeful ending

Tenayah’s story is one of courage – her parents’, her doctors’ and her own. But it is also a challenge to us as a society, it shows how real life is at 22 weeks. It is life that we must fight to protect at every stage.

As we celebrate her survival, let us recognise that every baby in the womb is as real as she is. They all deserve the chance to live, whether born early in the delivery room or still growing in the safety of a mothers womb.

Tenayah’s tiny body tells us something louder than any argument – that this is life we are talking about. Real human life. Life that is so worth protecting.

by Hannah Newton. This article first appeared at Cherish Life and is republished here with permission. Cherish Life Queensland was founded in 1970 (as Right to Life Queensland), to advocate for the right to life from conception until natural death and remains one of the largest pro-life organisations in Australia.

Jackie Sinnerton, ‘Tenayah Gimbert: The premature baby defying the odds’. Courier Mail. https://www.couriermail.com.au/health/family-health/pregnancy/tenayah-gimbert-the-premature-baby-defying-the-odds/news-story/f27f42789309f2edd1a9215070bf9d96?campaignType=external&campaignChannel=syndication&campaignName=ncacont&campaignContent&campaignSource=the_courier_mail&campaignPlacement=edm&net_sub_id=284386009&type=free_text_block&position=1 Accessed 11 September 2025. ↩︎
Cleveland Clinic, ‘Fetal Development’. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/7247-fetal-development-stages-of-growth Accessed 11 September 2025. ↩︎
Emma Pollard, [23 July 2025] ABC News, ‘Mater Hospital’s religious abortion ban left couple feeling ‘abandoned’. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/mater-hospital-religious-abortion-ban-couple-feeling-abandoned/105532550 Accessed 11 September 2025. ↩︎
Queensland Government, ‘Termination of Pregnancy’. https://www.qld.gov.au/health/children/pregnancy/termination-of-pregnancy Accessed 11 September 2025. ↩︎
Queensland Health Parent Information, Queensland Clinical Guidelines. Babies Born very early. https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0025/1007935/c-xtreme-preterm.pdf Accessed 11 September 2025. ↩︎

Religious freedom in healthcare must be preserved so that Catholic hospitals like the Mater in Queensland do not follow the same fate as Calvary in Canberra: forced government takeover.

Today’s ABC article criticising Brisbane’s Mater Hospital for refusing to perform abortions is a deeply troubling example of the growing hostility toward faith-based institutions in Australia.¹ It paints a tragic personal story, but leverages it to undermine the very foundation of religious freedom in our healthcare system.

While we acknowledge the heartbreak and grief experienced by families facing complex prenatal diagnosis, the answer is not to force an institution to participate in abortions against their conscience. True compassion and freedom allows space for faith-based care.

Let’s be clear, the Mater has every right to uphold its Catholic values, values which are transparently communicated and long-standing. These values affirm the dignity of every human life, even in the most difficult of circumstances.² This is not a failure of care, but a demonstration of ethical values. To demand that a Catholic hospital abandon its convictions to appease public pressure is nothing short of an assault on religious freedom.

A plural system means choice for everyone

The suggestion that the Mater is failing Queenslanders because it doesn’t provide abortion services is misleading and unjust. Abortion is already accessible across Queensland, especially in the metro areas like Brisbane, with numerous clinics like Children by Choice and Marie Stopes International offering it on request up to 20 or 22 weeks.³ There is no lack of access. What is at stake here is not availability, but ideological conformity.

We don’t expect every hospital or organisation to offer every service. For example, we certainly don’t expect Islamic schools or organisations to violate their values to align with mainstream opinion. The Islamic School of Brisbane for instance, is rightly respected for operating in accordance with its religious convictions. Despite maintaining religious beliefs, an Islamic school does not receive the same level of backlash that a Christian one does. So why are Catholic or Christian institutions increasingly singled out for attack? We saw this when the Anti-Discrimination Bill was being discussed.⁴ Christians and Islam organisations both stood against the bill, yet they did not receive the same level of criticism.

We saw this pattern recently in the vilification of Citipointe Christian College, which was targeted for simply upholding its faith-based enrolment policy.⁵ We also have seen this happen with Calvary Public Hospital in Canberra which was forcibly acquired by the ACT Government in 2023, effectively stripping the Catholic Church of its hospital due to its refusal to offer abortion and euthanasia.⁶ That takeover was a shock to the nation and sent a clear message that Catholic and Christian based organisations need to conform or face being removed.

Public funding does not equal ideological control

Critics argue that Mater’s receipt of public funding should force it to provide abortion service. One anonymous obstetrician quoted in the article went so far as to say:

“I can’t for the life of me understand how the church runs the major women’s health service on the south side of Brisbane, under their rules, paid for by the taxpayer.” ⁷

This line of logic is fundamentally flawed, and what this doctor fails to acknowledge is that this goes both ways.

The taxpayer also pays for abortion providers. Children by Choice, a vocal abortion group and provider, received over $8 million in taxpayer funding last year alone (to be allocated across 4 years).⁸ MSI Australia, one of the largest abortion providers in the country, has also received substantial government funding.⁹

Many Australians, particularly those of faith or with pro-life convictions, strongly disagree with the ethos and practices of these organisations – yet our tax dollars fund them. That is the nature of a pluralistic society: funding does not equal ideological endorsement.

To demand that the Mater change its deeply held Catholic beliefs because it receives government support is hypocritical and discriminatory. Living in a diverse democratic country means that organisations have the right to uphold values, even with public funding, as we see across every type of service.

A dangerous precedent for religious freedom

If faith-based institutions like the Mater are forced to abandon their convictions in order to keep operating, we will have crossed a very dangerous threshold. The erosion of religious liberty in healthcare is not just a threat to the Church, it’s a threat to every Australian who values freedom of conscience, belief, and association.

There is an undeniable pattern forming: attacks on Christian and Catholic institutions are increasing, while other religious organisations are left undisturbed. Citipointe Christian College was subjected to a national smear campaign for upholding its faith-based standards.¹⁰ Calvary hospital in Canberra was forcibly taken over.¹¹ But imagine the outrage if the same tactics were used against any other religious organisation. As a society we have decided that we respect the right of, for example, Islamic institutions to operate in line with their religious beliefs, as we should. So why isn’t that same respect being afforded to Christian and Catholic institutions?

We call on the Queensland Government and the public to recognise what is really happening here – this is not about access to healthcare. It’s about coercion. It’s about forcing faith-based providers to violate their conscience or be shamed into silence.

Cherish Life will always stand for the rights of any faith-based institution to provide their care and service without being coerced into compromising their values. We are blessed to live in a country that affords us freedom of religion, however, the danger is that this freedom is always vulnerable to ideologies that oppose it.

By Hannah Newton. Republished from Cherish Life with permission. Cherish Life Queensland was founded in 1970 (as Right to Life Queensland), to advocate for the right to life from conception until natural death and remains one of the largest pro-life organisations in Australia.

Footnotes

ABC News, Emma Pollard, “Mater Hospital’s religious abortion ban left couple feeling ‘abandoned’” Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/mater-hospital-religious-abortion-ban-couple-feeling-abandoned/105532550 ↩︎
Mater Hospital, ‘Mission, Vision and Values’. Accessed 23 July 2025 https://www.mater.org.au/about-us/who-we-are/mission-vision-values ↩︎
Children by Choice, ‘Abortion & Contraception Services’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://findaservice.childrenbychoice.org.au/#5,-17.581194026506008,146.16210937500003; MSI Australia, ‘Abortion Services’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.msiaustralia.org.au/abortion-services/ ↩︎
ABC News, Kenji Sato. ‘Islamic College of Brisbane and Queensland Churches Together oppose Anti-Discrimination Bill 2024’. Accessed 23 July 2025.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-08/christians-and-muslims-object-to-anti-discrimination-bill ↩︎
The Guardian, Ben Smee. ‘Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College withdraws anti-gay contract but defends ‘statement of faith’. Accessed 23 July 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/03/brisbanes-citipointe-christian-college-withdraws-anti-gay-contract-but-defends-statement-of-faith ↩︎
ABC, Joanna Howe, ‘The ACT’s takeover of Calvary Hospital overrides conscientious objection and threatens religious freedom’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/act-takeover-of-calvary-hospital-overrides-freedom-of-conscience/102356586 ↩︎
ABC News, Emma Pollard, “Mater Hospital’s religious abortion ban left couple feeling ‘abandoned’” Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/mater-hospital-religious-abortion-ban-couple-feeling-abandoned/105532550 ↩︎
Children by Choice. ‘Funding Boost for Children by Choice’s Crucial Termination of Pregnancy Support Services’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.childrenbychoice.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Media-Release-Funding-Boost.pdf ↩︎
MSI Annual Report 2023. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://msichoices.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Annual-Report-2023_Web-Version_02.pdf ↩︎
The Guardian, Ben Smee. ‘Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College withdraws anti-gay contract but defends ‘statement of faith’. Accessed 23 July 2025 https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/03/brisbanes-citipointe-christian-college-withdraws-anti-gay-contract-but-defends-statement-of-faith ↩︎
ABC, Joanna Howe, ‘The ACT’s takeover of Calvary Hospital overrides conscientious objection and threatens religious freedom’. Accessed 23 July 2025. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/act-takeover-of-calvary-hospital-overrides-freedom-of-conscience/102356586 ↩︎

Tag: Mater Hospital

Tiny but mighty: Tenayah’s story shows the truth of life at 22 weeks