Family

“I bring these sacred souls to the earth” Mrs. America 2023 winner gives passionate pro-life witness during pageant

The stunning pro-life response from a Mrs. America contestant last week had everyone talking online.

33-year old mother of seven, Hannah Neeleman, was crowned Mrs. America last week on August 25. She’s a Utah native who represented South Dakota in this year's pageant.

When asked her final on-stage question, before the winner was announced, Hannah gave a refreshing response.

“When have you felt the most empowered?”, the judge asked Hannah, to which she responded, with audible emotion in her voice:

“I have felt this feeling seven times now, as I bring these sacred souls to the earth. After I hold that newborn baby in my arms, the feeling of motherhood and bringing them into the earth is the most empowering feeling I have ever felt”.

The crowd cheered, applauded and gave a standing ovation, to what was a beautifully pro-life response. Hannah openly honored not only the role of mothers, but also the unmistakable value of human life. Such a sentiment is so welcome in today’s society, which seems to be dismissing both as less-than.

Hannah and her husband Daniel work on their ‘Ballerina Farm’, where they produce and sell farm products. In their ‘About us’ section on their website, Hannah explains:

“Daniel and I grew up as city kids. We became fascinated with farm life while living abroad in Brazil for Daniel’s work. While most of his co-workers in Brazil would head to the beach on the weekends, we found ourselves venturing inland, marveling at the country's productive farming community.

One day, while visiting a cattle ranch in central Brazil, we ran into something that shocked us. As the experienced rancher talked about his impressive cattle operation, Daniel couldn’t stop looking at the man’s pigs. They weren’t locked up in stalls. Rather, they were out to pasture munching on grass side by side with the cows. They also enjoyed perusing fallen fruit from a smattering of mango, guava, cashew, and star fruit trees that dotted the farm.

From that point on all we could think about was raising pigs and cattle on pasture. So after 4 years in Brazil, we came back to the states, bought land and Ballerina Farm was born.”

Hannah also runs a successful Instagram account, amassing an impressive 6.2 million followers, at the time of writing.

She shares snapshots of her daily life on the farm as a rancher, as well as snippets of her life as mother to her seven children. Hannah also shares snapshots from her time in the Miss America pageant, with her aforementioned video from this year’s contest garnering hundreds of thousands of views.

While some may be inclined to ignore or dismiss the ongoings of a foreign beauty contest, the importance and impact of a public and unashamed statement about motherhood and the value of human life needs to be understood and welcomed.

Please God, Hannah’s beautiful testimony will help to inspire more mothers to see their undeniable and priceless value as those who grow and nurture the next generation.

As C.S. Lewis said: