Recalling my first meeting with Joanna conjures an image of two tribal chiefs circling each other without pretence. This female chief was embarking on a war that would inevitably impose immense personal cost and hardship. Understandably, she was intensely discerning of who she went to war with. Jo was wondering if I was worth investing in and, in retrospect, that told me she was someone I would get in the trenches with. Joanna could make her family comfortable with the gifts she has been given. She has instead denied herself that privilege so that the growing number of babies killed in this world will know in the next that someone loved them enough to fight tenaciously for them.

Dr Joanna Howe is a great Australian who has taken a lot of heat for her commonsense stand against late-term and sex-selective abortion. I commend her for standing firm for what she believes, and I encourage you to read her account in these pages.

Joanna is a champion. Life on the Line charts her courageous journey from a shy schoolgirl to a fearless campaigner for the most fundamental of human rights—the right to life. It is a must-read. Provocative, passionate and often polarising, Joanna’s book gives insight into her intellectual brilliance, her pugnacious advocacy and her strategic nous, which has brought new vigour to the pro-life movement. She lays bare the true horrors of abortion practice in Australia, and the personal and professional costs she and her family have suffered in speaking truth in the public square. Life on the Line captures the essence of who Joanna is and is delivered with her trademark energy.

Like all of us who are compelled by the simple truth of the unborn child’s humanity and defencelessness to take on the pro-abortion establishment, Dr Howe has her critics. This book reveals the daughter, wife, mother and Christian believer behind the uncompromising public figure who will not give up the fight until abortion truly becomes unthinkable.

It’s one thing to believe that every human life has value. It’s another to stake your reputation, career and comfort on defending that belief in the fight against abortion. Life on the Line challenges readers to ask what they’re actually willing to sacrifice for the truth.

“Hi, my name is Joanna, and I have a few thousand followers on Instagram.” That was how my first-ever conversation with Joanna began. Four years later, she has become Australia’s most prominent voice for unborn children, perhaps the greatest this nation will ever hear. The unborn desperately needed a voice that cannot be ignored, and Joanna’s has become precisely that. My hope and prayer is that this book will fuel your own courage and conviction to stand for the unborn, as her example does for me on a daily basis.

Life on the Line is a moving testimony to the power of faith, family and moral courage. Dr Joanna Howe shows what it costs to stand for the sanctity of life in a culture that too often demands silence. Her story will strengthen the resolve of every Australian who believes that every child, every mother and every family deserves protection, compassion and hope.

Professor Joanna Howe, with her bedrock of family support, has unequivocally smashed through the glass ceiling that had been blocking pro-life advocacy progress for decades. She is a formidable force, with a laser-focused resolve. It’s been a privilege to witness her strategically outmanoeuvre her enemies by repeatedly flipping the dynamics, in true Jo style. Life on the Line is the making of a legend, the curtain-raiser for how Australia makes abortion unthinkable.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Professor Joanna Howe has almost single-handedly reinvigorated the pro-life movement in Australia. She has also inspired countless young Australians to take up the cause in a compassionate, uncompromising and intelligent way. She is one of Australia’s bravest and most influential Christians and activists. Joanna and her family’s story is inspiring reading for anyone who knows they must push through their fears to be salt and light in a decaying and dark culture.

“Journey” is perhaps overused today, but this book is a true journey story. A pathway through life, stepping towards faith and finding the love of God, and recognising what that love calls us to do. It is a story of vocation and of giving, and Joanna’s journey is one which should encourage and empower us all.

Courage awakens courage. Joanna Howe’s willingness to put everything on the line has stirred Australia’s conscience and called others to stand alongside her. The protection of children in the womb is foundational to justice, and Joanna’s determination to keep this truth before our nation, despite the personal cost, has my deepest respect.

Joanna Howe’s account of her advocacy against abortion is also an account of what it costs to refuse to be silenced. She and her husband, James, have faced attacks on their reputations, careers and family, alongside the quieter burden of fear, exhaustion and doubt that accompanies sustained public opposition. More recent attacks have even included threats to their children. In Alarmist Gatekeeping, I wrote about what happens when people challenge dominant narratives on contentious social issues, and the personal and professional price that can follow. Life on the Line gives an example of the lived reality of that phenomenon. Yet this isn’t a story of victimhood. It is a deeply personal account of conviction, faith, courage, and the choices required to keep standing when retreat would be considerably easier. Whatever the reader’s views on abortion, Life on the Line offers an important insight into the human cost of speaking publicly for what you believe to be true, and the courage required to continue when silence would be the simpler path.

Dr Joanna Howe is iconoclastic. This disarmingly tiny lady with enormous heart provokes a healthy level of fear in politicians, and slams open a door the Church in Australia, which has squandered fifty years of democratic majority, must urgently enter. Pro-abortion politicians must become unelectable, and we should never think it’s a job for someone else or some other time.

This book tells Joanna Howe’s story as it’s never been told before. In her raw and absorbing memoir, Jo recalls the formative years of her life, her journey into the pro-life space, and the unseen battles behind the campaigns that will go down in Australian history. An incredible story of tragedy, triumph and hope told by Australia’s Lila Rose equivalent.

Our convictions shape what we stand for. Our courage reveals what we are prepared to stand through. In Life on the Line, Dr Joanna Howe takes us beyond the public headlines and into the personal story of a woman whose convictions have shaped not only her public life, but her private world. What struck me most was not simply Joanna’s determination or the strength of her public voice, but the woman behind it. From losing her father as a young girl to her academic achievements, motherhood and the personal sacrifices that have accompanied her activism, Jo’s story reveals both vulnerability and remarkable resilience. Our approaches are different, but I deeply value the work Joanna does, her willingness to speak into difficult conversations and her determination to advocate for what she believes is right. I commend Joanna for her courage, her resilience and the work she continues to do.

Jo Howe is a canary in the coal mine, showing us how deep the rabbit hole goes and exposing a depravity that has long been hidden from us. Yet Life on the Line is more than an exposé. It’s the story of a woman whose faith is lived out in self-sacrificial love for others, whatever the cost to her and her family. Her courage is deeply inspiring. Read it, and then ask what you’re willing to stand for.

When I heard Joanna’s debut speech at an Adelaide rally against the aptly dubbed “Abortion Up to Birth Bill”, I immediately asked, “Who is that? What a little pocket rocket. Hang on to her!” And the little rocket hasn’t stopped firing since, at great personal cost, a price she has willingly chosen to pay. This cause is not just a passion; Jo has the courage and faith to rise to a calling. The pages of this book reveal her tenacious and determined spirit. She has captured God’s heart for life.