The Catholic hospital in Phoenix, AZ, has two directives relating to abortion. The first says that physicians cannot perform direct abortions under any circumstances, including for such reasons as to save the life of the mother. A second directive adds, however, that "operations, treatments and medications that have as their direct purpose the cure of a proportionately serious pathological condition of a pregnant woman are permitted ... even if they will result in the death of the unborn child." This directive is based on the Catholic philosophical principle of double effect, which says that if the treatment sought addresses the direct causes of the woman’s health condition (such as radiation treatment for cancer), but never intends to kill the unborn child (even though that may happen as a secondary, but unintended, effect of the lifesaving treatment), then it is morally licit.
Hospital officials claimed that they were following the second directive by aborting the baby. Dr. Paul A. Byrne, Director of Neonatology and Pediatrics at St. Charles Mercy Hospital in Toledo, Ohio, disputes the claim that an abortion is ever a procedure necessary to save the life of the mother, or carries less risk than birth. “I don’t know of any [situation where abortion is necessary to save the life of the mother]. I know that a lot of people talk about these things, but I don’t know of any. The principle always is preserve and protect the life of the mother and the baby. . . . The only reason to kill the baby at 11 weeks is because it is smaller,” which makes the abortion easier to perform, he said, not because the mother’s life is in immediate danger. LifeSiteNews
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