I think I found a situation where abortion is necessary to save the mother's life

[sdeco]

In my last pregnancy, I had severe preeclampsia that came on all of the sudden. They had to do an emergency c-section. Fortunately, I was relatively far along (35 weeks) and both baby and I are fine. The baby is now 5 months old. It was the scariest experience of my life, though.

After that happened to me I started researching preeclampsia online. I found a couple of people on message boards who had had severe preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome had to have abortions to save their lives. I know that the Church permits procedures to save a pregnant woman’s life that may indirectly result in the death of the child. But both inducing labor and doing a c-section would have been too dangerous to these women in their condition. They said the only option was direct abortion. The babies were also too young to survive outside the womb. The women desperately wanted their babies and said the abortion was the worst experience of their life, but they were told they would die otherwise.

I’ve always been very pro-life, and I always thought that situations where abortion is the only option to save the mother’s life didn’t exist. But now I’m not so sure. It sure does sound like it was the only option. I’m not a doctor, but I would think doctors know better than I do.

Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

 

[bilop]

In my last pregnancy, I had severe preeclampsia that came on all of the sudden. They had to do an emergency c-section. Fortunately, I was relatively far along (35 weeks) and both baby and I are fine. The baby is now 5 months old. It was the scariest experience of my life, though.

After that happened to me I started researching preeclampsia online. I found a couple of people on message boards who had had severe preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome had to have abortions to save their lives. I know that the Church permits procedures to save a pregnant woman’s life that may indirectly result in the death of the child. But both inducing labor and doing a c-section would have been too dangerous to these women in their condition. They said the only option was direct abortion. The babies were also too young to survive outside the womb. The women desperately wanted their babies and said the abortion was the worst experience of their life, but they were told they would die otherwise.

I’ve always been very pro-life, and I always thought that situations where abortion is the only option to save the mother’s life didn’t exist. But now I’m not so sure. It sure does sound like it was the only option. I’m not a doctor, but I would think doctors know better than I do.

Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

I am very happy that everything worked out for you and your new baby

Well, the Church can’t be wrong, if you believe Catholic doctrine.

I’m no medical expert, but I think the moral thing would be to persue induced labor, or c-section, whichever had the best chance of success, and do everything possible to save the live of the mother and child.

Realistically, sometimes we have no good moral options. The mother and/or the child may die, and that is sad. But, it does not excuse murdering the unborn child.

On the positive side, the baby can be baptized immediately, ensuring that he will go directly to Heaven if he dies, and the mother can receive absolution before the procedure, so would likewise be assured salvation. If they proceed with an abortion, the salvation of both is at risk.

I know that if I had a choice between killing my wife and dying, I would die (don’t have children yet, but we’re trying - fingers crossed). I imagine you feel the same about your baby.

God Bless

 

[1ke]

Abortion is never a moral option, even in the situation you describe.

If a woman goes into labor, or is in danger of death the doctor can certainly induce labor or do a c-section even if the child might be too young to survive. In such cases their aim is to save both patients. They do what they can to save the child. If it does not survive, that is a tragedy but not immoral (also not an abortion).

In many cases when women are told they “will die” and refuse the abortion being foist upon them, it turns out that they in fact do not die and go on to deliver a healthy baby.

If a woman is in actual peril, the doctor must always do what he can to save both. He cannot kill the baby. That is immoral.

 

[kage_ar]

Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

Direct abortion is never moral, it is always wrong.

A woman in this situation would be advised to contact the nearest Crisis Pregnancy Center and to get the name of a pro-life high risk OBGYN.

You could also post your question over at benotafraid.net/

 

[Melissa]

Horse-pucky. The recommendation is for delivery of the child, not the murder of the child. Prematurity is not equal to a death sentence for the infant (nor even equal to a guaranteed sub-optimal health). The premature infant should be cared for properly based on the actual gestational age/health needs. Survival rates for infants 800g or more is up to 90%; for smaller–500g, 40-50% survive.

(Yes, I did a fair bit of research into outcomes for preemies when middle son was born at 35 weeks due to a placental abruption.) When my son was born at 35 weeks, his survival was never in question; 35 years before that, a President’s son died after being born at that very same gestational age.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

And whoaaaaa! Isn’t pre-eclampsia preventable???

My mother’s dog had eclampsia. I still can’t believe I knew what it was back then when the dog started shaking.

 

[Newbie2]

In my last pregnancy, I had severe preeclampsia that came on all of the sudden. They had to do an emergency c-section. Fortunately, I was relatively far along (35 weeks) and both baby and I are fine. The baby is now 5 months old. It was the scariest experience of my life, though.

After that happened to me I started researching preeclampsia online. I found a couple of people on message boards who had had severe preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome had to have abortions to save their lives. I know that the Church permits procedures to save a pregnant woman’s life that may indirectly result in the death of the child. But both inducing labor and doing a c-section would have been too dangerous to these women in their condition. They said the only option was direct abortion. The babies were also too young to survive outside the womb. The women desperately wanted their babies and said the abortion was the worst experience of their life, but they were told they would die otherwise.

I’ve always been very pro-life, and I always thought that situations where abortion is the only option to save the mother’s life didn’t exist. But now I’m not so sure. It sure does sound like it was the only option. I’m not a doctor, but I would think doctors know better than I do.

Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

Aha. “They said…”.

There are always other options than abortion, although it may be the most convenient or most likely to save the mother’s life. Convenience and liklihood of success are not always valid criteria for making a moral decision.

 

[Seatuck]

In my last pregnancy, I had severe preeclampsia that came on all of the sudden. They had to do an emergency c-section. Fortunately, I was relatively far along (35 weeks) and both baby and I are fine. The baby is now 5 months old. It was the scariest experience of my life, though.

After that happened to me I started researching preeclampsia online. I found a couple of people on message boards who had had severe preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome had to have abortions to save their lives. I know that the Church permits procedures to save a pregnant woman’s life that may indirectly result in the death of the child. But both inducing labor and doing a c-section would have been too dangerous to these women in their condition. They said the only option was direct abortion. The babies were also too young to survive outside the womb. The women desperately wanted their babies and said the abortion was the worst experience of their life, but they were told they would die otherwise.

I’ve always been very pro-life, and I always thought that situations where abortion is the only option to save the mother’s life didn’t exist. But now I’m not so sure. It sure does sound like it was the only option. I’m not a doctor, but I would think doctors know better than I do.

Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

No, direct abortion is always intrinsically evil. Direct abortion is never allowed.
Glad things worked out for you.

 

[Timothysis]

The Church teaches that there is never a time when abortion is justified. If one objectively and patiently thinks about it they will arrive at the same conclusion.

In any given situation you make the best choice available and hope that everything works out alright. To decide on having an abortion is to turn your back on all options and surrender to the moral relativism that is destroying our society. Life is sometimes hard and the best that we can do is to bear it as well as possible. One is never, never justified in killing an innocent life. How could a mother even consider such a thing?

 

[Mary_Gail_36]

Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

I don’t have a medical background but let’s use some reason. If the problem is that the baby is causing the mother to have high blood pressure, why would abortion be easier on her body? If the baby needs to be removed from the mother, why does it have to be removed dead as opposed to alive? Why does killing the baby prior to removing it help the condition of the mother? If the delivering the baby is too dangerous(c-section or induced labor) I can’t see how carrying a dead baby less taxing than carrying a live baby.

 

[Mark77]

Abortion is easier and safer for the Doctor, if they are immoral, it saves $$$$$ on malpractice, etc…

i used to trust Doctors, lawyers and politicians, **i used to be really stupid!
**
As President Reagan said so eloquently “Trust but verify!”

Read Lance Armstrong’s story, if he had listened to the first doctor’s recommendation for treating his testicular cancer, he would have never raced again.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark

 

[St_Francis]

…Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

The problem is that doctors see abortion *as an option. *Suppose you had someone who was about to die because his heart wasn’t working properly. And suppose an appropriate donor were found, but he was healthy and not likely to die soon.

We consider it unfortunate that the sick person dies for lack of a heart, but we do not sit around and consider killing the potential donor, now do we? In the same way, it is unfortunate that a mother dies from eclampsia, but abortion is still not an option any more than killing the potential donor in my scenario above is. And we still wouldn’t be able to do it if the potential donor had a terminal illness and had only been given a few months to live–as long as he is alive, we do not consider killing him off.

And the Church is protected by the Holy Spirit in Her teachings, and is therefore never wrong.

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

The problem is that doctors see abortion *as an option. *Suppose you had someone who was about to die because his heart wasn’t working properly. And suppose an appropriate donor were found, but he was healthy and not likely to die soon.

We consider it unfortunate that the sick person dies for lack of a heart, but we do not sit around and consider killing the potential donor, now do we?

I hope it never comes to that, but it’s on the horizon. ‘Utilitarian bioethics.’

 

[Calliso]

I don’t have a medical background but let’s use some reason. If the problem is that the baby is causing the mother to have high blood pressure, why would abortion be easier on her body? If the baby needs to be removed from the mother, why does it have to be removed dead as opposed to alive? Why does killing the baby prior to removing it help the condition of the mother? If the delivering the baby is too dangerous(c-section or induced labor) I can’t see how carrying a dead baby less taxing than carrying a live baby.

Yeah I sorta agree here…I say sorta because I donlt know medically what sort of effects an abortion would have on a woman with that condition. So it is actually possible that an abortion would have less risk then inducing labor or a c section.
I will have to do some research on that.

But I have also heard of other situations where abortion can be necessary. I mean assuming you donlt want the mother to die. Sometimes it;s not so black and white. Sometimes it;s not as simple as try to save both sometimes it;s save one or the other…or even you save the mother…or you let both die. Fortunately such situations are fairly rare.

 

[daeve]

On the positive side, the baby can be baptized immediately, ensuring that he will go directly to Heaven if he dies, and the mother can receive absolution before the procedure, so would likewise be assured salvation. If they proceed with an abortion, the salvation of both is at risk.

I don’t think the unborn child’s salvation is at risk. If the mother chose to have the abortion, yes, her salvation is certainly at risk and she could well die during that or any other surgery, but the unborn kid didn’t choose to do anything either way. If the father/husband decided while she was incapacitated, I don’t believe she would be culpable either. You have to know and choose to commit a mortal sin, and that baby can’t make any kind of choices.

We don’t really know what happens to infants born or unborn who die prior to baptism, but we trust in God’s mercy.

 

[Timothysis]

Yeah I sorta agree here…I say sorta because I donlt know medically what sort of effects an abortion would have on a woman with that condition. So it is actually possible that an abortion would have less risk then inducing labor or a c section.
I will have to do some research on that.

But I have also heard of other situations where abortion can be necessary. I mean assuming you donlt want the mother to die. Sometimes it;s not so black and white. Sometimes it;s not as simple as try to save both sometimes it;s save one or the other…or even you save the mother…or you let both die. Fortunately such situations are fairly rare.

Don’t you understand? Abortion is NEVER justifiable, no matter what the conditions are. No person ever has the right to kill another; period. It does not matter what medical condition the mother has, it does not matter if her life is in jeopardy, it does not matter that there is a risk to the mother; you can NEVER take an innocent life.

Do you really think that you could persuade Jesus that it was “necessary” to kill your child? Do you think that He would be ok with that? Perhaps you need to start from the beginning and re-examine the Catholic faith.

 

[Calliso]

Don’t you understand? Abortion is NEVER justifiable, no matter what the conditions are. No person ever has the right to kill another; period. It does not matter what medical condition the mother has, it does not matter if her life is in jeopardy, it does not matter that there is a risk to the mother; you can NEVER take an innocent life.

Do you really think that you could persuade Jesus that it was “necessary” to kill your child? Do you think that He would be ok with that? Perhaps you need to start from the beginning and re-examine the Catholic faith.

So you think Jesus would find it better to basically let both die? Even if you had a chance of saving one? And I am not Catholic.

 

[Bob_Crowley]

In my last pregnancy, I had severe preeclampsia that came on all of the sudden. They had to do an emergency c-section. Fortunately, I was relatively far along (35 weeks) and both baby and I are fine. The baby is now 5 months old. It was the scariest experience of my life, though.

After that happened to me I started researching preeclampsia online. I found a couple of people on message boards who had had severe preeclampsia or HELLP syndrome had to have abortions to save their lives. I know that the Church permits procedures to save a pregnant woman’s life that may indirectly result in the death of the child. But both inducing labor and doing a c-section would have been too dangerous to these women in their condition. They said the only option was direct abortion. The babies were also too young to survive outside the womb. The women desperately wanted their babies and said the abortion was the worst experience of their life, but they were told they would die otherwise.

I’ve always been very pro-life, and I always thought that situations where abortion is the only option to save the mother’s life didn’t exist. But now I’m not so sure. It sure does sound like it was the only option. I’m not a doctor, but I would think doctors know better than I do.

Can anyone shed some light on this?? Anyone have a medical background? If a women has severe preeclampsia or HELLP and the baby has to come out right away, are there any other options than inducing labor, c-section, or abortion? I can’t think of any. The women were told their platelets were too low for a c-section and labor would be too dangerous since their blood pressure was too high. What else could they do? Should a good Catholic woman just die? I have a hard time believing the church teaches that. Could it be the church is wrong about abortion in this one instance?

I’m not a medical practitioner, but I would think that these days the number of times when an abortion was the only possible way to save a mother’s life would be very rare. However I think that from time to time such situations would exist. It’s all very well pontificating about it on a web site, but if we were the doctor in such a situation, then we have a decision to make.

I had a very strong Catholic aunt, now deceased, who had been a palliative care nurse. At one time she was in charge of a young boy dying of cancer. He was very restless and in considerable pain. She knew that if she gave him more morphine, he would die. But eventually she did, not to kill him, but to relieve the pain. Sure enough a few minutes later he died.

She went to see the hospital chaplain as she was concerned. He asked her what her motive was in giving the extra morphine. Obviously it was to save the child from further stress. As such her motive was the prime factor. Likewise in saving a woman’s life - if an abortion is the only possible solution (rare as I said), what is the motive for doing so?

 

[Timothysis]

So you think Jesus would find it better to basically let both die? Even if you had a chance of saving one? And I am not Catholic.

The burden is on YOU to show that Jesus would sanction murder. I am sorry for the fact that you are not Catholic; perhaps if you were, you would know/realize that murder is NEVER justified, no matter how much one may rationalize it.

 

[yellowbicycle]

To the OP,
Would you mind posting the links to what you found saying that abortion was necessary? I’m just curious to read exactly what the doctors said was their reasoning to kill the child and THEN deliver it, rather than just deliver it.
My husband’s a doctor, and I wanted to show him the links and see what he thought of it.
Thanks!