Sister Margaret McBride, an administrator at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, made the decision to save the life of a 27-year-old pregnant woman.
The woman, a mother of four, was 11 weeks pregnant, suffering pulmonary hypertension that would very likely
kill her and, as a result, her unborn child. Sister McBride agreed to the abortion that would save the woman's life. Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted has excommunicated her for it.
Olmsted is a staunch and vocal supporter of pro-life issues. The Diocese of Phoenix in a Q&A stated that anyone who agreed with the medical necessity or encouraged the abortion is also excommunicated. Some argue the canonical law here, but Olmsted is standing by what he believes to be the dogma of his faith.
But dogma isn't faith. Dogma can't look a child in the eye and explain that health care providers let her mother die — but for a dogmatically correct reason.
Was allowing this woman and her unborn child to die — in a hospital, surrounded by doctors who could save her — really open for long, heated debate? A hospital founded on Christian values, supervised by a nun of the Sisters of Mercy, and run by a staff of doctors who have taken the Hippocratic oath? I hope not.
Sister Mcbride was excommunicated and the hospital lost its Catholic accreditation for saving the mother's life instead of just standing by and letting both mother and 11 week old fetus die.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=127033375