By Bonehead

BACKGROUND: A pregnant woman with pulmonary hypertension sought care at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, owned by Catholic Healthcare West. The woman's condition limits the ability of the heart and lungs to function and would be made worse, possibly even fatal, by pregnancy. She was 11 weeks into her pregnancy.

The ethics committee, headed by Sister Margaret McBride ruled that an abortion was needed to save the woman's life after consulting with the patient, her family and physicians. It was determined that the mother's pregnancy carried a "nearly certain risk of death." This would mean that both the baby as well as the mother would die.

The Catholic Church removed McBride from her position as vice president of mission integration, and she was "automatically excommunicated." The news should be particularly troubling given the scandal involving priests in Africa and India raping nuns and encouraging them to get an abortion, and yet the Vatican did not defrock and excommunicate the guilty priests despite acknowledging that the problem had persisted for years.

The Phoenix Diocese published an FAQ regarding the matter. Here's is the edited portion that is applicable:

http://imgur.com/VRLKO.jpg

It is better that both should die because the unborn child's life is more important than the mother's. It does not matter what role that woman plays, how many other lives are dependent upon her because her highest and best function is as a baby maker. Raising children is not important, creating healthy productive lives is not important, just making babies is -- and if she can't do that, she would be better off dead. If she has an abortion for any reason, her life is not worth living.

The real problem with this logic is when it is applied to very poor countries, such as Mozambique, the death of a mother almost always results in the death of all her children age 5 and under. In these cases, the unborn child's life is more important than the mother's or any living child in her care. If any of the children are sick or deformed, it is a guaranteed death sentence.

This is not a Pro-Life stance, it is fetus worship, while devaluing life itself. The baby it may become was worth risking in order to save the fetus. Even if the baby would die shortly after birth it would be worth it, because the fetus is valued above all other life. Life is only "sacred" when it is a potential for life, not after it passes through the birth canal. Then we can see that the only value this woman had was to make more potential life, that everything else she does not enter into the decision whether she should live or die.

This is why children are allowed to starve to death, people can die of a lack of clean water or health care -- all within the Vatican's power to end with their vast wealth and influence. Yet they don't, because it is not life which is sacred, it is the fetus which is important and therefore, valued.

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By Bonehead SHTF411.com