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Roman Catholicism and abortion access
Possible exceptions to the ban on
abortion by the Roman Catholic Church
Sponsored link.
Note:
As described
in a separate essay, the Roman Catholic Church has banned direct abortion during the past few centuries. However, there are unusual circumstances in which the Church may find abortion to be permissible today.
Exceptions to the blanket rule that forbids most abortions:
The Church bans abortions which
"directly" cause the death of a fetus
. However,
there are certain medical procedures that a pregnant woman can undergo which, indirectly, result in the death of the embryo or fetus. Under some circumstances, the church regards these as a moral choice. These involve an ethical principle called "
double effect." This is where an action that is directly undertaken for a moral reason has an unintended, unavoidable, second, indirect, and negative, effect. Perhaps the most common example is the administering a narcotic to ease the pain of a terminally-ill cancer patient. The medication will have the desired effect of alleviating pain. However, it may also has the side effect of hastening death.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I, an action involving a double effect may possibly be morally acceptable if
all of the following four conditions are met:
That the negative effects are not sought, and all reasonable efforts are made to avoid them.
That the direct effect is positive.
That the negative effect is not made a means to obtain the positive effect.
That the positive effect is at least as important as the negative effect.
4
We have found
three relatively unusual examples in the literature involving the morality of killing an embryo or fetus:
Ectopic Pregnancy: In a normal conception, sperm fertilizes an ovum in one of the woman's two fallopian tubes (a.k.a. oviducts). The fertilized ovum then moves down the tube and implants itself in the wall of the uterus. In an ectopic pregnancy, the embryo becomes lodged in the duct. Initially, there is no problem. However, as the embryo grows, it will become too large to be accommodated by the duct. The latter ruptures. Unless the woman obtains immediate medical care, she will inevitably die of an internal hemorrhage. Ectopic pregnancies happen in about 1 per 4,000 pregnancies, and about 1 per 65 in-vitro fertilization pregnancies.
There are two medical procedures to avoid the death of the woman.
Both will result in life for the woman and death for the embryo. However, either one or none of the procedures is allowable according to various Catholic sources:
One is to administer a medication that kills the embryo and leaves the fallopian tube intact;
The other is a surgical procedure. The physician cuts the fallopian tube, removes the section containing the developing embryo, and then stops the bleeding. The embryo inevitably dies due to a sudden termination in the woman's life support services.
We have found four interpretation of church law in such a case:
According to an article in Touchstone Magazine, the church has no objection to the surgical procedure. That is because the woman's life was saved by the removal of the oviduct; it was not directly saved by the death of the fetus. The fetal death was unintended and was not a goal of the procedure. 1
Author Gerald Kelly also comments on the surgical procedure: "there is...a pathological condition in the mother which is distinct from the mere fact that the fetus is present, (and) this condition exists in an organ which is not indispensable for the mother's life, (and) the sacrifice of it, when it is in a morbid condition can save her life, the removal of the diseased organ is morally permissible, although the death of the fetus ensues, because the operation is directed, not against the fetus but against the pathological condition of the mother. It is not the case of attaining a good effect by means of the bad, because the mother's life is saved, not by the death of the fetus, but by the removal of the pathological condition."
The fetal death is an indirect effect of saving the woman's life. ..." -
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