Question Title | Posted By | Question Date |
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abortion | Claire | Sunday, November 23, 2008 |
Question: Hello and God bless, |
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Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OLSM
Dear Claire: You have it correct and have said it very well. On ectopic pregnancy, the medical procedure is not an abortion. You are correct. It is a medical procedure to save the life of the mother in which the death of the baby is NOT intended, but is UNINTENDED result of the medical procedure. This is called the principle of double-effect. The Catholic Dictionary explains that Double-Effect is...
As explained, all four conditions must be met to be able to apply the principle of Double-Effect. Pregnancy by incest or rape fails this 4-prong test. First let us define abortion. Again from the Catholic Dictionary:
But does the principle of Double-Effect apply in the case of a child conceived by incest or rape? Might that be an exception? Test #1: Not wanting the baby is not a moral good. Test #1 fails in that instance. It can be argued, however, that Test #1 passes in that it is a moral good to protect the mental health of the woman. Even so, all four tests must pass. Test #2: The ends never justifies the means. Even if the ends (protection of the mental health of the mother) is a moral good, the means here, abortion, is objectively evil. FAILS. Test #3: the evil effect of killing the baby is intended. FAILS. Test #4: There is no proportionately grave reason that overcomes the evil of abortion. FAILS. Abortion, even in the case of incest and rape fails at least three and usually all four tests and thus can never be permitted. Failing even one test is all that is needed to determine that the act is a moral evil. Now let us look at the case of ectopic pregnancy. Test #1: It is a moral good to save the life of the mother. PASS. Test #2: The act of saving the mother's life is not accomplished by aborting the baby, but by removing the fallopian tube that is causing heavy bleeding and threatening the life of the mother. The death of the baby is a by-product of the need to stop the bleeding. PASS Test #3: The bad effect (the death of the baby) is not the intention. The intention is to stop the bleeding before the mother dies. The death of the baby is allowed, but not directly intended. PASS Test #4: There is a proportionately grave reason to perform the surgery for without it the mother will die (and so will the baby). Thus, like trying to rescue two people in a burning building, if one person will die no matter what, one saves the person who has a chance to live. PASS. Surgery for ectopic pregnancy passes all the tests. This person who you were talking to needs to apply reason and not emotion on this subject. The Church is UTTERLY clear about all this. There are no gray areas and the teaching has not only Sacred Tradition, but also philosophical, theological, and moral reason and logic to back it up. God bless, Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum
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