A nine year old Brazilian girl, raped by her stepfather and pregnant with twins, recently obtained an abortion. The physicians who performed the procedure have insisted that, in their medical judgment, this was necessary to save the child's future health and life. The Catholic Church has objected to the medical procedure and are moving toward excommunication of all involved in its procurement and performance. Read about the case (links below) and answer the following questions:
What are the underlying ethical concerns in this case?
If there are competing interests, whose should prevail and why?
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Article from MSNBC
Commentary from Pharyngula Blog
Feel free to use other sources of information or commentary about the case as well.
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19 comments:
The underlining ethical concerns are that the mother is way too young to carry these babies and abortion in the eyes on the church is murder. Not to mention if she were to carry the babies, she could have a miscarriage and lose both babies or all three would lose their lives. I understand these are helpless fetuses but the mother didn’t deserve to be raped and then impregnated by her step father. She is still a baby herself and she deserve to live her life as a child. I mean had she purposely gotten pregnant by a little boyfriend then she would have to live with her choice to have sex. She was helpless a man that was suppose to help raise her took her purity and turned her life upside. In this case medical vs. ethical I think medical should prevail. All the signs are and the scientific/medical measures were properly taken.
First of all, let’s get one thing straight. This girl is 9 years old for crying out loud! She’s way too young to be carrying twins and giving birth. I think the church’s decision is just too immoral. Yes the Catholic churches don’t favor abortion, but this is a girl’s life we’re talking about. Who are they to decide the fate of one person? This just doesn’t make sense. Let’s say a priest’s daughter was the same age, and the same situation happened. Will the priest just let HER OWN DAUGHTER die by giving birth to twins? I don’t think so. As mentioned in the last argumentation, religion should not play a huge role in a person’s life. It’s unfortunate that this little girl was raped and carrying twins. The fact that evens the physicians had said she can die by giving birth just makes things even worse. The only ethical concern about this is the Catholic Church doesn’t approve terminating pregnancy. I honestly believe that the physician should have the upper hand of the girl’s decision. What surprises me is how the article states “Alleged”! For crying out loud, she’s only nine years old! This girl’s uterus is small and probably couldn’t carry one child, let alone twins! Seriously, I think the church needs to do some serious considerations of the family and the daughter. If the Catholic Church finds terminating pregnancy sinful, then let them be the ones to decide that. Nobody should have control over ones’ life other than the person themselves.
The underlying ethical concerns in this case are the well being of the young mother who was raped and the Catholic Church’s idea that abortion in all cases is always murder. The Catholic Church has it’s reasons why abortion is always murder, but in this case, how is the death of the young mother not to be considered murder if nothing was done about it? The fact still remains that the young mother was raped, by her stepfather no less. This I’m sure caused terrible psychological and physical harm to this poor child. Then to have to be pregnant and know that you probably will either lose your life or lose the twins, I don’t even know if this little girl could even comprehend that. I hope that her stepfather is prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And I believe it is ridiculous for the Catholic Church to move toward excommunication of all involved. First of all the Catholic Church shouldn’t even be able to get involved in these types of things. How could anyone pass judgment on something they no nothing about? This girl is going to have serious psychological and I’m sure physical problems because of this. She probably will be so scared to be touched by any man when she’s older, who knows maybe she will never have kids because of this horrible thing that happened to her. And the Catholic Church is stepping in and making it 10 times worse for this poor child. I believe the prevailing factor should be the best interest of the mother, who happens to be a child herself. She could have easily died if she tried to carry this baby to term and the babies could have died also if she tried carrying them to term. Doesn’t the Catholic Church care about that? This poor child didn’t choose this, she had to be forcibly traumatized and shouldn’t have to go through any more trauma.
The underlying ethical concern in this case is that this girl is that this girl is too young to carry twins to full term also the since abortions are illegal in Brazil because most of the country is catholic. And if your life is in danger and you do have an abortion you could be excommunicated from the church. I’m not religious so I have no problem saying that the church doesn’t know what they are talking about since they are not doctors. So I don’t think that they should try to risk all three of the lives and have the girl keep the pregnancy. Her body can’t support more than her own life and it is completely ridiculous to think that she can carry those fetuses to the full term. The competing interests are the churches and the doctor’s interests right now. The church wanted to have the girl carry the fetuses to term and simply have a ceresin. But the doctors and the mothers interest was that this was necessary to keep the girl alive. I think that the church is wrong to tell what this girl should do medically since they are not doctors! The doctors and mother are right because the little girl’s body and everything cannot support the two fetuses. I think that the church was being too harsh in the case of excommunicating all of those who were involved in the abortion. So I think that they made the right choice on having the abortion and the church should not try to be doctors or give medical advice since they don’t have a medical degree.
Just like in life there are always 2 sides to a story same applies to this case ethically. The first is the church's concern of killing precious life as they see aboration the other is the fact this child is way too young to even think about boys let alone having babies. At least that is how I see it.
As for competing intrest there are 2 the churchs desire to sto aboration and the girls desire not to be a mother. The one that prevails is the girl for many reasons. One she may not be able to survive the pregnancy even to the point of where a C-section is possible a growing child needs a lot of nutrients to grow a growing baby needs a lot of nutrients as well who knows what such a strain on such limited reasources could do to either babies or child it could stunt them cause mental problems or a host of other problems. Second it is known for a fact that pregnancy cause mental changes to help bond mother and child together that girl might give up her children now like the church says she should do but how is that going to effect her? espically when you take in the fact she is not done mentally growing. And that is what I can come up with off the top of my head I am sure there is more like soically and economic problems just to name 2 of them.
In short the girl is too young and still growing too much to be even remotely expected to continue the pregnancy. So in this I say the church is wrong the girl is in too much danger and it is okay for her to abort.
The underlying ethical concern in this case is definitely that the 9 year old girl got raped by her step father and had to go through an abortion to save her life. The church is against the decision that the doctors made and want to punish them for what they did. First of all I myself was baptized as a Catholic when I was a child but I completely disagree with the church in this situation. This is an example when religion isn't required to make ethical decisions. The church is being cruel and in my opinion unethical themselves. If the girl that was raped would had continued her pregnancy they are basically trying to say that a 9 year old should had gave up her life trying to have the twins that might have not lived or even had serious complications. Isn't the whole point of them being against abortion to save lives? A 9 year old is still a child herself, not even a teenager yet. Teenage pregnancy is actually a term that is very common, not child pregnancy and that’s what this poor girl is. Being a rape victim is a devastating thing to live through, especially when it’s a result from someone that was trusted. Adding a pregnancy to the equation is unimaginable physical and physiological damage to the victim and on top of that to have the church involved in such a negative manner must be horrifying for this child. The interest of the Roman Catholic Church is that they are prolife and are against abortion 100 percent. The interest of the doctors was to save the life of the raped victim. In any circumstance the life of the future mother should prevail and in this case the doctors were right to terminate the pregnancy. Not terminating this pregancy would had resulted in the death of the child and most likely of the twins as well.
The fact that this girl is only 9- years- old , not fully developed (body wise), and mentally not stable enough to care for or carry these babies, should be enough to permit the abortion. Not to mention the fact that she was raped by her stepfather, whom she probably trusted, is morally just wrong. The Catholic church should stay out of this matter and consider the facts that are at hand with this young girl. I think it should be the decision of the young girl’s mother and the doctor. If the doctor told the mother that her child’s life was in danger and could not carry these babies physically, then no one should have any say so in the decision to have this abortion. Why would anyone want to subject this child to go through such a life changing experience, such as childbirth? I have a 9- year-old daughter and I sure wouldn’t want her to have to experience something like this.
The Brazilian child pregnancy case with the stepfather as an alleged rapist is very sad to say the least.I support this poor girl to do the abortion process.Fatima Mia acted very responsibly by allowing the child to undergo an abortion inorder to save her life and protect her future.Even thought the law prohibits abortion in Brazil unless it is done to save the mother's life, this case definitely meets the standard of saving the mother's life.The body of nine years old girl is no way to handle one, let alone two babies.This pregnancy poses not only phsical threat but also psychological damage to the mother.It was very admirable for the health professionals and every one involved saving her life by performing the abortion which is against the rule of the Catholic church.This was insane for the catholic church to voice any objection to this child having abortion.This pregnancy clearly put this young girl in danger.Abortion was the unfortunate but it was right decision on this case and the catholic church has a greater responsibility to protect and support the child who was victimized than to protect the unborn fetuses.It saddens me that such a young and innocent person would have to face something so tragic and grave.The catholic church was wrong for threatening to excommunicate the people involved in helping this child.It is like the church didn't care if this child could die by carrying the babies to full terms.What is protecting the unborn embryo do if there is no consideration to protect the person holding the embryo? The catholic church should understand to save the girls life.For me first should be the human life that is already breathing and living independently and then we can save the unborn potential human being after making sure that the human that is carrying the fetus is safe.I agree with the health professionals who worked together to save this young girl and gave her a another chance to live.
This type of case is really sad. No child should be in this type of situation. Reading about the case, the ethical concerns with this case are; that the 9 year old girl is very small. Her uterus doesn’t have the ability to hold one, let alone two children. I absolutely agree with this. She is too young to be pregnant and medics have stated that a child this small carrying twins, could cause serious risk to the girl and babies. Another ethical concern is that, she shouldn’t have to have kids from rape by her stepfather. I understand the emotional distress that this child will have but an abortion in the end is killing an innocent baby. Though, I am not saying that it was right that this man did that to her and that this poor child must have suffered so much. However, I do not agree with killing anyone. The next concern is that it’s the law of God. I feel that God is the only one who can give life and take it away. He doesn’t want His children to suffer and if she was meant to have these children than she would have. But if she wasn’t able to, God would have made it possible for her to not suffer, in His way. In conclusion, I do not agree with this girl having an abortion. I cannot be a hypocrite and say I don’t agree with an abortion when dealing with an adult and not with a child. In the end they are having the same procedure being done, and in the end a baby is dying.
In the end no one can tell someone what they have to do. I think that is why God gave us the liberty to have our own mind and own opinion. In this case I believe it is up to the girl and her family, since she is young. This is why sometimes I do not understand why the Catholic Churches have such a huge involvement in personal affairs. I understand them preaching the word of God, but they force many people to do what God says. And I do not think God wants people to be forced into something. Rather they decide on their own to follow Christ’s teachings.
What are the underlying ethical concerns in this case? I’m sorry but isn’t the facts obvious. A small framed nine year old girl weighing 80 pounds and is pregnant with twins. Ouch! No matter what age a girl is, carrying and delivering at any age will always have risks and complications. The pain, is another story, and anyone who has given birth, knows what I’m referring to, this alone can have psychological and emotional damage to a child at that age and according to the doctors if she was to have given birth to the twins it would have killed her. There should not be any competing interests between Catholics and the medical field in this case. Now, no one will absolutely completely prevail in this matter or in the majority of any other ethical matters if you think about it. That’s why is some cases we have encountered in this class has given us many subjects of what is debated and is still being debated to this day. In this case, the Catholics will never recognize or give credit to the intellectual facts that the medical team possessed of why the abortion was needed and was done. The facts of not being capable to carry full term because the uterus was too small to even carry and deliver even one child and then two…you would think that this fact alone did not take rocket science to understand or even think that it was even conceivable. At what costs should be considered, according to the Catholic Church it was that the fetuses had a “right to live and …that life must be always be protected.” Therefore, if life must always be protected according to the Brazilian Catholic church, then so is the little girl. Is her life worth being protected as well? According to the Brazilian law, abortion in the cases of rape and when the mother’s life is in danger is allowed and legal. So, therefore this made the job of saving the little girl’s life easier and hence in a small way this law helped the medical community prevail in this instance. However, like I said who really prevails totally, because neither you nor I will have to live or know what it is like to live her life then, now and in the future. My prayers and thoughts do go out to this innocent girl, because I would never wish any child to have to live a life with all the trauma that this little girl had to endure and still will.
Seriously?!?! Where do we even begin with all the things that are wrong with this situation? Well the first for me would be that this very young CHILD was raped by her step father. How SICK and demented is this guy?! I truly hope he is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and gets some treatment for what he did and then honestly I hope he rots in hell. This is so disgusting in every way imaginable. I’m pretty sure that I had NO CLUE what sex was at 9 years old. This poor child will forever live with this terrifying event and will never have a normal life, no matter how much counseling she gets. She is old enough to remember this tragedy and it will probably haunt her forever. I believe that the underlying ethical issue is that the Catholic Church expected this child to go through with this pregnancy and the fact that they have an attorney who agrees with them. No matter how much you paid me I would never defend this position for any reason, for any one or any church. It is absolutely ridiculous that they really think that she could carry these babies even remotely close to term and still turn out healthy; babies and the child having the babies. These doctors did the very best thing for this CHILD, by terminating the pregnancy. I do not always agree with abortion but in a circumstance like this I whole heartedly feel it was the best thing to do. I don’t care if she could have carried them to term and had a c-section, the fact that she would be a mother at the young age of nine is just not right. This little girl probably still had dolls she played with; how on earth would she be able to deliver babies! Competing interests? Come on! Any person(s) who would fight for this child to keep this pregnancy really need to re-evaluate their beliefs and go back to science class and learn a thing or two about the human body and the human mind. I feel the mother of the child that agreed to the pregnancy did the best thing she could as her mother. She took her out of the situation and into the very capable hands of medical professionals who could help her daughter. I would never wish something like this to happen to anyone. The human body, no matter how much we study it will always be a mystery. Whether it’s pregnancy, cancer, heart attacks, brain aneurisms, seizures, or the common cold; we can treat it or not and something will always shock us to our very core. We will either deal with it or we won’t. I’ll just feel sorry for the people that think doing a procedure like this is wrong.
I clicked on a link for more information and this 9 year old girl has a 14 year old handicapped sister who is also believed to have been sexually abused. In cases like this the church needs to mind its own business. a typical pregnancy a woman will gain about 25lbs, this poor girl is only 80lbs and the damage would surely had been deadly. I am glad this was brought up in class, but let us not think this isn't happening here. i worked with a girl who when she was a 11 she was raped, she became pregnant and had her daughter, she was lucky. she kept her daughter as well. I met this girl when she was 20, this was 11 years ago. I haven't seen her since, and i wish her well. it is obvious that the doctors did was was best to preserve the life of this child and her future chances of motherhood, i hope, and so she can go back to being a child again.
The underlying ethical issues of this case would basically be the same as those when we discussed the abortion issue earlier. Do the rights of the mother outweigh the rights of her unborn children? Should a woman, or rather a girl in this case, who has been raped, be forced to bear the child resulting from such a traumatic incident? There is also the issue of whether the church should be involved in medical situations such as this one.
Although I believe that abortion is wrong in general, there are certain circumstances under which it would be the reasonable course take. This would be one of those situations. The girl is nine years old and small, only eight pounds. The pregnancy was the result of sexual abuse. To complicate matters, she wasn’t carrying one baby, but two. Her physicians believed that carrying these babies would be extremely difficult, even deadly for the girl. According to Fatima Maia, the director of the hospital where the abortion was performed, the girl’s uterus “doesn’t have the ability to hold one, let alone two children.” If she did survive the pregnancy, she would have complications down the road when she is actually ready to have a family. The reason the girl was taken to a doctor in the first place was that she was having stomach pain. The girl’s mother and physicians decided that the best thing to do would be to abort the fetuses. I doubt that at nine years old the girl could understand what was causing the pain and why. The psychological repercussions would have to be immense. So in this case, I believe the rights of the mother would outweigh the rights of the unborn. A nine year old girl shouldn’t be forced to these children. The pain, suffering, and damage far outweigh any good that could come of this situation.
Should the Church be involved in this situation? Well, to a certain point, it already is. Abortion is illegal in Brazil; this is due to the fact that Brazil is predominantly Catholic. However, there is an exception to this law, and that exception is that an abortion can be performed when the life of the mother is at risk or that the fetus wouldn’t survive. Obviously, the case met the requirements of the court, because the judge granted permission for the abortion to be performed. The doctors must not have been afraid of backlash from the Church, because they proceeded to perform the abortion, even though the Church tried to stop it. Once the case had been approved by the judge, the Church should have stepped back and not interfered. Medical doctors know more about the human body and what it can endure, especially in a case such as this one. Also, this can’t have been the only abortion that has been preformed in Brazil. Why is there even an exception to the law, unless it is because the Church conceded the point? Has the Church interfered in each and every abortion case that was approved by the Court? Have they excommunicated the doctors who have performed these approved abortions? I don’t think they have, or the world would have heard about it by now. The Church is choosing to flex its muscles because of a headline, and it is a poor case to choose to do so. It is sad that they are giving God a bad reputation. They need to go read their Bibles. God is a merciful and compassionate Being, and there are many cases in the Bible that exemplifies this. King David would be one example that I can think of off the top of my head. He’s a pretty big one, the clergy should be aware of who he is. The Catholic Church in Brazil has done themselves no favors.
The moral considerations in this case is whether or not it is ethical for the 9 year old rape victim to receive an abortion with her life in mortal danger from carrying the twin fetuses. The conflicting interests in this case are the mother’s right to life versus the twin fetuses’ right to live, if they are so granted personhood. Now even if the fetuses are granted full personhood, the abortion is still ethical. Of course there are objections because 2 lives out weight one but it is still ethical because if the mother continued to carry the fetuses then all three would have most likely died. Since the probability of all 3 surviving would be a medical miracle, and the probability of at least the fetuses surviving is slim since they would be premature and very small, but it is very likely if carried to term that all 3 would die, the best, most ethical decision would be to save the mother’s life with the abortion. It is the most ethical decision according to the Mill’s philosophy it produces the most good and reduces harm, such as a hysterectomy on the mother, the emotional and psychological damage to both the mother, having the fetuses’ born and then dying shortly after, etc. It’s also the most ethical decision according to deontology where one must fulfill their duties to family, society, etc. Since this victim is so young and unable to make the decision herself, the decision lies with the 9 year olds mother. To best fulfill her duty to her daughter, she must opt to save her life and reduce her suffering no matter the cost to others. This is equivalent to the analogy if your mother is tied to train tracks with a train bearing down upon her and you have the option of saving your mother or the people on the train (not both), in this philosophy you must save your mother. Now what do you do when your child is tied to the tracks and your grandchildren are on the train alone? The analogy fails in this instance because the fetuses even if carried as far as long as possible have no to very little chance of surviving. So more accurately the question is having 100% chance of saving your daughter that’s tied to the tracks, a good chance of losing all three and only a slim chance saving your grandchildren. In deontology, you must fulfill your duty the best you can, and I purpose in this instance to do so you must go with saving your daughter on the tracks because of the odds, which also allowing her to grow up and fulfill her duties as well. Of course the real life situation is different, considering that the analogy calls for living breathing grandchildren on the train alone and the 9 year old girl is pregnant with the fetuses which are actually endangering her themselves, not a separate innate object such as the train. Now the article notes the Roman Catholic Church’s opinion that is it wrong and unethical for the abortion to be performed. Their reasoning is that God’s law, which is do not kill (apparently under any means), is above man’s law, which allows the girl to have an abortion. What is lawful isn’t always ethical and vice versa but in this instance the law is ethical. There are many problems with their justification, just some of them being: is there a God, which religion is then correct, is the holy text authentic and viable to use as God’s word, does the holy texts then address this ethical dilemma, and there’s hypocrisy in the Bible, which does in fact have passages where killing and rape are seen as ethical and it doesn’t address the problem of abortion. The only passage related to such matters actually states that if a man injures a woman to where she loses the child but not her life, a fine paid to the father of the child, if requested by him, is the only retribution needed. Clearly, the fetus's life is not considered the same as the mother's life, where if the woman is killed in the situation the husband as the right to kill the man. The situation where the woman wants to the man to hit her to lose the child isn’t addressed at all. So simplifying it to simply say God's law is do not kill is incorrect. Now if killing is okay to use as retribution and punishment, why is it not okay for the mother to have an abortion in self-defense of her own life? This abortion was an act of self defense, the only difference between a victim killing an attacker, who intends on killing the victim, and the abortion is that the fetuses do not have the intent to do harm, because they have no intent at all. However, the analogy is correct whereas their gestation will cause mortal harm to their mother. Take for instance the analogy that a woman is undergoing surgery and the doctor takes it upon himself to use the woman as an incubator and implants an embryo created from the woman’s own egg that is needed for research that will save many lives, however, the embryo puts the woman’s life in danger during gestation due to her uterus being too small. Would it be ethical to 1) expect her to sacrifice herself to save the lives of many who will die without the research expect her to take the embryo to term, 2) even if the embryo doesn't put the mother's life at risk since her rights were violated and she didn't consent 3) expect her to carry the embryo to term so it can actualize it's potential to become a human. I contend that the answer to all three is no, it is unethical so the woman would receive an abortion. The ability to actualize their potential in the near future to become human is by no means equal to the mother’s actual right to life.
for Miriam -
There are many underlying concerns that I see in this case. What is the mother of the young girl who got raped going through having to deal with a decision like this? Dealing with the knowledge of her daughter being raped by the man she married must be extremely difficult .Having to consider making a decision that goes against the Catholic Church, who believes abortion is always wrong; to save her daughters life must also trouble her.
What about the young mother’s emotional outcome if the babies did have a chance? Having to carry the twins to term, knowing they were the product of rape, then having to raise them at such a young age would be very hard. The medical facts were obviously a decision breaker in this case, however, the Christian church believes that the unborn twin’s rights have not been met, but the fact is that there are no medical reasons to try to keep this pregnancy, due to the biological impossibility of carrying these fetuses to term. The health of the young mother is at risk, and she will ultimately die if the fetuses are not aborted. If the twins survive, chances are high that they may be born with significant disabilities because of the stresses of this pregnancy. In that case, the babies would be less desirable for adoptive parents, so the young mother would have to raise these children knowing they were the product of a rape. I believe the church is more concerned about upholding a rigid belief against abortion than they are for the little girl’s welfare. All of these ethical considerations, in my eyes, contribute to my agreement with the mother’s and the doctor’s descion to abort the fetuses. The church has not properly considered the well being of the young mother. This child has just had to go through an abortion, which is difficult for any woman, let alone a child .Not given a choice in this pregnancy, she had her childhood and innocence taken away from her. Having to experience the horrors of rape, by her own stepfather, she now is being shamed by the Catholic Church, being excommunicated and losing her standing in society. The law in Brazil states that if a woman’s pregnancy is put’s at risk or, if the fetuses have no chance of survival, then an abortion is permissible. This is clearly reasonable law! The physicians stated that in this case there was no physical way that the twins could be carried to term, due to the mother’s small and under developed physique. But what about the fact this was a rape? Where in the Bible does it say that the “victim” of a crime has to endure further consequences of the crime done to them? Personally, I have lost all respect for the Catholic Church and believe it to beavery twisted and contradicting organization.
“Cardinal Giovanni Ballista Re: Head of the Bishop’s Congregation told the Daily Stampa, that the babies had a right to live .Well, so does the mother. The Vatican is obviously grabbing at straws in trying to justify their excommunication. Now were do I see the church reaching out to this girl to protect her emotional welfare or human rights. The church has completely turned their back on her, making it almost impossible for this little girl to live a somewhat normal life. The Church is pretty much saying that everyone involved is going to hell. I guess the church would have felt better if the child would have suffered an agonizing pregnancy until all three of them died. Is that how you get to heaven? The balance of ethical consideration is hugely off balance in this story, and I feel a huge injustice has been done to the family, the doctor’s and especially the young mother. None of them should have been excommunicated. Having an abortion was clearly permissible and the obvious right thing to do in this case. Shame on the Catholic Church!
According to the Catholic church all abortions are unethical. Personally, I believe the ethical consideration here and in many other controversies depends on the practicality and benefit it brings. Although Catholic church is going to say no to all kind of abortion, we are still going to undergo the abortion due to a medical threat to a nine year old. If religion is the only source of ethical consideration then we are all screwed up and we are all immoral and unethical. My position in this case is that the ethical consideration that rose from the catholic church inhibits us from using medical application to save a nine year old from involuntary pregnancy. So I would say the ethical consideration here is the opposite, which is, the enforcement of religious principle on a society that tries to solve its problems using medical advancement. This is the competing interest and this should prevail in this case. To tell you why, let me explain my position in ethical consideration that rises from religious body. I believe in God but I don’t believe in anybody in the world being holier than anybody. In the bible, God talks about potential and its existence in everybody and the choices we make being ours. If each and every one of us, “believers”, are going to benefit from the medical advancement this society has brought through the so called sickening ethical issues, and if we are going to make the same choice when this fate happens to our nine year old sister or daughters, then I don’t know why I should exclude my self from this society and act as if I have the right answer and ethical opinion even though the Bible I believe in has no particular say about abortion. I have a problem with some authority assuming to have a Godlike opinion because I believe each of us have Godlike image and wisdom accessible to us. And if aborting is a sin then it is going to have the same strength of wrong doing as judging, hating, lying and specially lusting have, which prevails in each and every one of us. So, yes the nine year old deserved to use this same medical help we all inquire when suffering and yes there is nothing unethical about having an abortion for safety concern. Call me not loyal to my belief, but Mr. Pope can’t tell us what God has to say about the way to live our life because its equally unethical to use the name of God to inflict our authority and give a biased opinion.
I believe that medical should prevail. Because the little 9 year old girl did not chose to have sex and get pregnant. She got raped by somebody that was supposed to take care of her and protect her. I think that the mother’s girl did a good decision in listening to the physicians, because the girl is too little to have children and her life was at risk. As the physicians said her uterus is too small to be carrying one child and she was carrying too her uterus wouldn’t have sustained all that pressured and would have probably just ripped apart. If she would have carried those babies to term she would have ruined her life. Because she was in risk of dying and she would have probably lost her life or if she had successfully carried those babies to term and had survive then she was also in risk of not being able to have babies in the future. The church has no rights to decide what should have been done or not. The only person that had the right to decide was the mother of the girl. And she chose for her daughter to have an abortion and nobody should have questioned her decision because that’s her daughter and she might be also suffering as much as her daughter. So for me I think that the mother did what she had to do and it was the correct decision. Because it was for the safety and health of her daughter.
Medical vs Religion. It is really not up to religion when it comes to the well being of a person when something can be done to save their life. Usually I am strongly against abortions but this is the exact example of my exception. This Child should not have to suffer the pain of going through with a pregnancy with the thought that she may die. Also, she would have to suffer the possible loss of the children in her belly. Already she has gone through more than a child her age should and still, she has to suffer with the world on her shoulders. I would consider the child's death murder by the church if they would get their choice. Not everyone can be perfect and God does forgive! This child has suffered enough without the church putting guilt in her mind and heart. I'm sure she feels enough shame and guilt that she should Not feel! I think excommunication is extreme especially if this child goes looking to God for answers. How much more pain do you think she should go through so the church can feel empathy? The church excommunicating her may make her feel as if God has really turned his back on her.
Throughout your posts, several of you have indicated that the position of the Catholic Church is that abortion is always wrong or unacceptable. This is not quite true. Over the years, more than one pope has acknowledged that medically necessary abortions (to save the life of the mother) do not violate the church's position. In this case however, Bishop/Archbishops in the area are insisting that the abortion was not medically necessary.
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