On May 19th 2010, a Catholic nun, Sister Margaret McBride, was excommunicated for allowing abortion, sounds like it makes sense right? Well let’s be more specific, the mother, age 27 was 11 weeks pregnant with her fifth child and had “right heart failure” according to the Catholic hospital she was being treated at.
(Courtesy of J.D. Long-Garcia/www.catholicsun.org Sister Margaret McBride was excommunicated after allowing an abortion to be performed on a woman who doctors say would otherwise have died.)
Because of her right heart failure, her choice of continuing with her pregnancy would have brought the mortality rate of her and her child close to 100%. The mother then agreed to an abortion, but because she was in a catholic hospital, the abortion would be inappropriate, and might not even happen. Officially, Catholics don’t allow abortion, so the mother and fetus should have both died rather than abort the pregnancy. The hospital was apprehensive, but they felt that their case was an exception because “Directive 47 in the U.S. Catholic Church’s ethical guidelines for health care providers — that allows, in some circumstance, procedures that could kill the fetus to save the mother” says npr.com, the abortion had proceeded.
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted soon heard of the abortion and said that Sister Margaret McBride (the nun who approved of the abortion) would be automatically excommunicated.
The woman lived and Sister Margaret McBride continues to work at the hospital.
In my honest opinion of all that is good, I believe abortion is wrong in most cases, but shouldn’t be made illegal for this very reason. When a mother is gravely ill and pregnant, we cannot just stand around and say that she shouldn’t have gotten herself pregnant in the first place. Abortion has it’s place, but not when a woman does not want the baby or cannot financially afford it; there are adoption facilities for that purpose. Albeit they’re not that good, but they are there. Sarah, I’m not trying to slam your case, I’m just trying to state my opinion… Abortion is wrong, but not when both the mother and the fetus’ lives are on the line.
You can see the the article here [2] (All of my sources came from this page as well.)
Sincerely,
-Jane
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2 users responded in this post
Jane,
I totally understand. And, of course, there are a few exceptions to every rule. This would be one case where abortion might be acceptable….to save the life of another. When I wrote my article, I did not see this side of the story I was focusing on when the baby is not wanted or can be financally afforded. Thank you for pointing out this story. It has opened my eyes to another possiblity. As I said before, however, Abortion should become the exception in a world where it is the rule.
*Love, Sarah*
Update!!! Sister Margaret McBride has been un-excommunicated, as the bishop has found that his decision was wrong… -Jane
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