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November 4, 2024By Ana Sanguineti, M.D., Diocese of Tucson's Spokesperson for Life Issues
Before you return your ballot, consider your choice to vote for or against the abortion access expansion measure, Prop 139. If you are struggling with a decision at odds with our Catholic teaching on the dignity of life in the womb, you may benefit from the clarity provided by the following medical statements.
Bishop Burbridge, chairman of the USCCB Respect Life Committee encourages every voter to inform him or herself on the medical realities of healthcare during pregnancies and the impact of abortions.
It is no exaggeration to say that there has been much misinformation regarding care for the pregnant mother when complications occur, fetal abnormalities are diagnosed, the mother’s health worsens, or an ectopic pregnancy is detected.
Two pro-life physicians, Dr John Bruchalski, board-certified Obstetrician in Virginia and Dr. Susan Bane, board-certified Obstetrician in North Carolina spoke out last week in a webinar from the USCCB Respect Life Committee.
Currently, there is misinformation on accessibility of care when a miscarriage occurs or when there is a complication from a chemical abortion. No state denies care for a pregnant woman needing medical assistance. Every woman has the right to obtain the necessary care when experiencing a miscarriage. No law prevents a D & C procedure when necessary to treat that miscarriage.
Abortion is a medical term that covers several different types of events that pertain to the preborn baby’s death. A threatened abortion refers to symptoms such as bleeding, that suggest the preborn baby may be in danger of miscarriage. A spontaneous abortion is a miscarriage: the natural death of the baby in the womb. An induced or elective abortion is “an intervention by a licensed clinician intended to terminate an intrauterine pregnancy, and which does not result in a live birth”; in other words, the intentional ending of the life of the preborn baby in the womb. A botched abortion is the survival of the baby following an induced abortion.
The following events are not abortions:- treatment of an ectopic pregnancy by removing the diseased tube containing the preborn baby;
- a miscarriage;
- a necessary separation of maternal and fetal patients due to a medical crisis even when that results in the baby’s death.
A preborn baby can be delivered alive, i.e. separated from the womb when the mother’s life is in imminent danger due to a worsening of a medical condition. That baby should then receive all the available care needed for survival. Yes, the baby may die as a result of necessary treatment to save the life of the mother, but INTENT MATTERS. When the intent is to treat the mother and her baby, to strive to not end the life of the preborn baby, this is not an abortion. Similarly, medical and comfort care is provided to both mother and child when a terminal fetal abnormality is present, or premature delivery occurs before the baby is able to live outside the womb. Parents will find comfort in knowing their baby was lovingly held in the last moments of his 0r her life.
Science aligns with our Catholic faith in confirming the life of the child in the womb from the moment of conception. Dr. Bruchalski concluded by noting that physicians are called to serve our patients’ health, but we must remember there are two patients, mother and baby; the health of the mother is not served by the intentional killing of the baby in the womb. Abortion is not needed for her healthcare or well-being.
