I’ve heard more information on that story about so-called “live-birth abortions” at Catholic hospitals. It appears that the columnist for the Illinois Leader got the story wrong and the original source is unhappy with how his story has been characterized. This is what I’ve learned:
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We’re talking about babies who are anacephalic (i.e. have not developed most of their brain), and have no chance of living outside the womb.
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They’re delivered early, in some circumstances, to give the mother relief from various complications.
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They are NOT delivered until they would be (otherwise) viable. They die, not because of the premature delivery, but because they were going to
die whenever they were delivered. -
The purpose of the delivery is NOT to kill the child, and it’s misleading to call the procedure an abortion.
Most orthodox Catholic bioethicists would agree that none of this is immoral. This is not to say that these Catholic hospitals are free from taint. There are Catholic hospitals that have abortionists on staff and do perform actual abortions, but it does not do our cause any good to use false information to accomplish a good end. Let’s leave that to CBS.
