Clueless in Phoenix – Part II

Still Clueless in Phoenix

Personal comment: In My June 4, 2010 entry, Clueless in Phoenix, I posted that a nun in hospital administration at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix, AZ was excommunicated for sanctioning an abortion to save the life of a pregnant woman who had 4 small children at home. The Catholic Church has ‘clarified it’s position’ on such situations, giving further evidence, as if any was necessary, that the Church hierarchy is misogynistic and very much an old boys club.

Daily Women's Health Policy Report
Monday, June 28, 2010 11:54 AM

Catholic Bishops Clarify Abortion Definitions in Light of Ariz. Case

June 28, 2010 — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Doctrine released a statement last week clarifying how the church classifies direct abortions and indirect abortions, the Arizona Republic reports.

The statement refers to a recent case in which Sister Margaret McBride, an administrator at a Catholic hospital in Arizona, was excommunicated for her role in authorizing an abortion to save a woman's life. The statement did not review the particulars of the case or take a position on the excommunication; instead, it said USCCB wanted to clarify "confusion" about the church's stance on abortion.

According to the Republic, the church condemns direct abortion -- meant to terminate a pregnancy -- but permits indirect abortion -- in which fetal death is a secondary effect of another necessary procedure -- in some cases, such as a hysterectomy to treat uterine cancer. "As the church has said many times, direct abortion is never permissible because a good end cannot justify an evil means," the statement said, adding, "There are no situations in which it can be justified."

The statement "appears to confirm" the Phoenix bishop's classification of the Arizona case as a direct abortion, the Republic reports (Clancy, Arizona Republic, 6/25). In the case, the young mother of four was 11 weeks pregnant and had pulmonary hypertension, a rare condition in which continuing the pregnancy often jeopardizes the life of the woman. Physicians concluded that the placenta had to be removed to prevent the patient from dying

Clueless in Phoenix

Clueless in Phoenix

Womens Rights
by Alex DiBranco May 17, 2010

Arizona Nun Excommunicated for Saving Woman's Life

“Sister Margaret McBride was an administrator at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center; now she has been excommunicated and demoted, for the grave moral crime of acting to save a woman's life.

McBride was part of an ethics committee that decided to grant a life-saving abortion to a patient with pulmonary hypertension, a dangerous illness impacts hearts and lung function and can make pregnancy fatal. When Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead got wind that the procedure had taken place, he denounced it and took action against the nun; McBride was automatically excommunicated for the sin of "formal cooperation" with an abortion. Update: While Bishop Olmstead and the Catholic diocese claim that anyone who has an abortion or helps provide one is automatically excommunicated, RH Reality Check explains that this is simply not true.

The Catholic hospital stands behind the decision to terminate the 11-week pregnancy as necessary to save the woman's life. With recent news stories, I grow more and more frustrated with and opposed to the positions of conservative Catholic bishops and male church leadership, while admiring the courageous stands of Catholic nuns.

As Jos points out on Feministing, "a fetus couldn't survive if the woman died at 11 weeks — a fact that wouldn't change my feelings on saving a woman's life anyway, but it does show Olmsted's interest really isn't in saving life." And isn't it interesting that the Sisters of the Church and the Catholic Health Association supported health reform, instead of trying to derail it over misinformation about abortion provisions. So it's the women of the church and the actual medical professionals who aren't making it their top priority at every turn to keep women from getting abortions, while high-ranking men interfere trying to stop these procedures, even at the cost of sacrificing a woman's life. Who is really pro-life here?

At the very least, a life-saving abortion such as the one in question should be accepted by the Catholic Church as an act of self-defense. As the Catholic Church's Catechism says: "Love toward oneself remains a fundamental principle of morality. Therefore it is legitimate to insist on respect for one's own right to life. Someone who defends his life is not guilty of murder even if he is forced to deal his aggressor a lethal blow." So why, for some elements of the Catholic Church, is the fetus' so-called "life" the only one sacred and worth saving? Why deny women the ability to defend their own lives, which the Church has stated is a legitimate aspect of morality.

And for Sister McBride and the hospital, approving a procedure to save the life of their patient was not only permitted but, if anything, duty: "Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life." McBride would have been wrong to deny the pregnant woman the ability to save her life — she had a grave duty to protect the patient in her care. Maybe Bishop Olmstead and the Catholic Church need to brush up on their Catechism.”

Personal Comment: The Most Reverend Thomas J. Olmsted Bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix [pictured at the top of this entry] is an almost perfect example of what is wrong with the Catholic Church today. The cloistered mindset of the all-male hierarchy in many cases is unconcerned about the lives of women while they play ‘Hide-The-Predator’ with priests who go around buggering little boys!