Abstract
In November, 2009, a 27 year-old woman was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. She was in her 11th week of pregnancy with her fifth child and was suffering pulmonary hypertension. According to her physicians, her risk of dying if she were to continue with the pregnancy was “close to 100 percent” (Hagerty 2010). Sr. Margaret McBride, a member of the hospital’s ethics committee, consulted on the case and approved termination of the pregnancy in order to save the mother’s life. The abortion was carried out and the mother survived. Sr. McBride was later informed that she had been automatically (latae sententiae) excommunicated from the Catholic Church in accordance with the Code of Canon Law §1398 and §1329.2, which together impose such a penalty upon anyone who procures or is a willing accomplice to a completed, directly intended abortion.
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Notes
- 1.
In December 2011, the Catholic News Service reported that Sr. McBride’s excommunication had been lifted and she continues as a member in good standing of the Sisters of Mercy and St. Joseph’s Hospital’s executive team.
- 2.
An English translation of Archbishop Fisichella’s letter can be found at https://novantiqua.com/2009/03/20/translation-of-archbishop-fisichellas-intervention-on-the-brazilian-excommunications/. Accessed 15 June 2016.
- 3.
See the introduction to Part I.
- 4.
https://www.nightlight.org/snowflakes-embryo-donation-adoption/. Accessed 17 June 2016.
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Eberl, J.T. (2017). Introduction. In: Eberl, J. (eds) Contemporary Controversies in Catholic Bioethics. Philosophy and Medicine(), vol 127. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55766-3_7
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