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Pro-choice quandary


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The Scout,

Last month I dragged you through the weed, this month it's the coals.

Being the good Catholics we are, and knowing church doctrine, how would you respond to this unfortunate but true situation I heard about today.

 

Scenario: A nine year old girl is sexually abused and raped by her step-father. She ends up pregnant with twins. The twins will not survive to gestation, nor will the nine year old if she tries to carry them to term. The doctors advice that without the abortion, she will die. The doctors are Catholic, as is the family. As a Catholic, what do you do, let her die, or be excommunicated for performing/having the abortion to save her life?

 

 

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What a heart-wrenching decision.

 

I certainly do not claim to be a theologian by any means.

 

However it is quite clear that in the view of the Catholic Church, at the point of conception an embryo becomes a human and is entitled to all such rights. It also seems clear that abortion in all cases is a "grave moral disorder."

 

A quick search of the Catechism let me to the following passage:

 

"Prenatal diagnosis is morally licit, 'if it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human foetus and is directed toward its safeguarding or healing as an individual... It is gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent of a death sentence."

 

I am no doctor either and don't know what exactly a 'prenatal diagnosis' is. It seems if the doctor did such checks to find out if all these problems would occur and an abortion was needed, that was wrong.

 

And who is to say the doctor is actually right? Doctors have been wrong before. Many times. God has been responsible for miracles. Many times. How do could we possibly know what He in His wisdom has in mind for this family.

 

Regardless of any way the situation turns out, if the girl lives her life according to the precepts of the Church she will end up in Heaven, which is a better place anyway. Whether it is sooner or later I am sure she will enjoy the reunion with her Creator and Savior.

 

To me, it seems the best solution is to ask a priest. He will be able to answer the question or at least be able to point one to a person who can best answer it.

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I just came across the story on the BBC. The doctor and mother were excommunicated, the girl was not due to her age.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7929712.stm

 

I salute the Archbishop for sticking to Church doctrine despire some pressure to the contrary. I deplore the President of Brazil who has not set a good example for his Catholic nation.

 

Hopefully the doctor and mother will repent and God in his grace will save them.

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I am no expert on such matters.

 

However, we all know all sins do not require excommunication. Those that confess can usually still recieve the sacraments. However, the Church has decided that some sins are so serious that they are cause for excommunication.

 

Excommunication is not a penalty really. It is the making known of a previous poor condition. It also does not require a Church official to to it. It is automatically incurred by some actions, such as abortion.

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I really don't know. Perhaps you should ask your local priest. He would certainly know more than me. He might teach you a thing or two as well!

 

I'm pretty sure the Church considers abortion worse than rape though. There is no taking of human life in rape . . .

 

But ask your priest!

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I don't have a priest. I'll have to rely on you.

If they don't excommunicate a fellow for raping his step daughter, but excommunicate the daughter for aborting the result of that rape, that is one messed up value system in my opinion. But its only my opinion.

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Well I can assure you a priest can better explain Catholic theology to you than myself if you really have questions. They are very highly educated. Catholic seminaries are quite good. There are Catholic churches all over. Priests will usually accept visitors at all hours. So even if you don't have a priest you can find one easily.

 

As I mentioned and as the article said, the daugher was not excommunicated due to her age.

 

No matter what I would not call the value system messed up. Like it or not the Catholic one has been one of the most unchanged throughout history. I would not question the deposit of faith and the Successor to St. Peter as the head of Christ's Church on Earth.

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My bad, I do recall now the girl wasn't excommunicated but her mother was. But for a heathen like me, it seems like a screwed up value system.

Do me a favor, next time you see your priest, ask him. I am really curious. I get a burning sensation on my forehead every time I get near a Catholic Church. I think it has something to do with being raised Lutheran.

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"I deplore the President of Brazil who has not set a good example for his Catholic nation. "

 

Have you ever been to Brazil? Do you know anything of Brazilian culture? Have you ever seen a favela? Do you have any sense of what Brazil was like under previous governments?

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The mother and doctors were excommunicated. The step-father of coarse was not.

 

Scout, depending on how your priest answers the question, then ask him, does the mother and doctors still get excommunicated if they did not go through with an abortion, killing the girl instead, knowing that she would not survive the pregnancy? Also ask if the perp should be excommunicated, and whether he feels God will reconcile with mom and the doc's when they arrive?

 

I do agree, that on the very rare occassion, that miracles do happen, but as stated they are rare. Been there, and involved in a few.

 

One is was placed on God Tube last fall by the mother. We had a delivery where the placenta was ruptured unbeknownst to anyone, plus meconium. The infant was delivered pulseless. We worked over 20 minutes, and were going to stop after one more minute, when we started finding a pulse. We figured there would be severe neurological damage if the infant survived. On returning to our department at the end of the shift (the delivery was during the last hour of my shift), someone asked if the Code Pink was at the delivery of a friend of mine who worked at the hospital with me. I was at her bedside, talking to her telling her to reach in the isolette and touch her daughter before we took her daughter to NICU, never realizing who the mother was. The infant survived, and has been cleared of any complications from the disastrous delivery we had, and is perfectly fine. Check it out.

 

Scout, now I have a ten year old niece who is lucky to weigh 60 or 70 lbs if she's lucky. Sorry there is know way she would ever be able to carry twins to term. As I stated in a earlier post about the flood victim on the roof who keeps sending the boats away because God will save him. When he meets God, he asks why God didn't save him. God replies "I sent the boats. You sent them away!"

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"Scout, depending on how your priest answers the question, then ask him, does the mother and doctors still get excommunicated if they did not go through with an abortion, killing the girl instead, knowing that she would not survive the pregnancy? Also ask if the perp should be excommunicated, and whether he feels God will reconcile with mom and the doc's when they arrive?"

 

Of course they would not get excommunicated if they do did do the abortion. It would not be them killing the girl. The two can be reconciled if the repent in this life. Usually excommunication can be lifted if certain conditions of repentance are met.

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