Which child deserves the most sympathy, the one who was raped or the one who was murdered. The answer, if one reads the article, is that there is a division among Catholics here. That is what the article was about. One person was trying to make a delicate balance. Another criticized this, as would I, for being ridiculous. How can anyone compare such evil. This “think for myself attitude” that this new anticatholic poster wears as his red badge of courage is exactly what these two Church leaders were doing. They came up with different ideas and disagreed.
I can not fathom those that can judge the bioethics of this situation across cyberspace and denounce decisions when one is necessarily ignorant of the medical nuances. These things do matter. There is a principle of moral theology that mandates that one can not do something evil to get a good result. The end can never justify the means. However, there is also the priciple of double effect. If there is a threat to the life of the mother and action is taken to save the life of the mother that results in the death of the child, that is morally acceptable. Without a detailed understanding of the medical situation, which applies is simply unknowable.
For a noncatholic to jump into a very complex problem in moral theology is simply not going to yield a fruitful discussion. It is putting the cart before the horse, focusing on secondary things without a primary base. The result will be understandably negative.
