US bishops' committee backs Bishop Olmsted on hospital abortion stand

June 25, 2010

Coming to the support of Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, who condemned the decision to allow an abortion at a local Catholic hospital, the doctrine committee of the US Catholic Conference has confirmed that direct abortion can never be morally justified.

Bishop Olmsted announced in May that Sister Margaret Mary McBride, had incurred the penalty of excommunication because, as a member of the hospital’s ethics committee, she had approved the abortion performed at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center. Hospital officials said that the pregnant woman, who was gravely ill, could not have survived if her pregnancy had continued. A number of doctors and Catholic ethicists protested Bishop Olmsted’s statement, saying that the abortion was justified because it was necessary to save the woman’s life.

The US bishops’ doctrine committee, in a statement released June 24, drew a distinction between an indirect abortion—in which the death of the unborn child is an unintended consequence of surgery done for legitimate medical reasons—and a direct abortion, in which the object of the procedure is to end the child’s life. “Direct abortion is never morally permissible,” the committee noted. “One may never directly kill an innocent human being, no matter what the reason.”

 

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Further information:

• The Distinction between Direct Abortion and Legitimate Medical Procedures (USCCB)
• USCCB committee explains direct abortion, legitimate medical procedure (CNS)
• Bishops conference clarifies abortion stance (Arizona Republic)
• Bishop Olmsted defended, attacked for stand against abortion in Catholic hospital (CWN 5/27)