After being excommunicated, the sister who said “yes” to a therapeutic abortion in Phoenix, Arizona was “pardoned.”
Sister Margaret McBride was forgiven and brought back into the Sisters of Mercy, despite the fact that three years ago, as member of the ethics committee at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center, she had authorized a voluntary termination of pregnancy for a woman in her eleventh week of pregnancy who suffered from pulmonary hypertension.
In 2009, with the consent of Sister Margaret McBride (who was one of the hospital’s Church administrators), a woman was given an abortion at the hospital, after doctors said she risked dying if her pregnancy was not terminated.
The Bishop of Phoenix excommunicated McBride and, as a direct result of the abortion, withdrew the Catholic Church’s patronage from the clinic.
After being ousted from the Church for an act that the bishop judged “unacceptable,” the nun has now been returned to her position.
The St. Joseph’s patient suffered from pulmonary hypertension, a rare and potentially lethal disease which is often aggravated by pregnancy.
Along with Sister McBride, the doctors involved in the abortion, as well as the mother herself, were also excommunicated.
The nun, explained the diocese, was excommunicated because “she held a position of authority in the hospital and was frequently consulted on ethical questions.”
Sister McBride “gave her consent,” maintaining “that the abortion was, in this case, morally acceptable according to Church doctrine, a fact that she herself personally admitted to Bishop Olmsted.”
St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center is the oldest and one of the most important in Phoenix. The patient was eleven weeks pregnant, and her condition had been suddenly aggravated to the point where doctors feared for her life if the pregnancy were to continue.
The disease limits the ability of the heart and lungs to functional normally.
The hospital ethics committee, which the sister was a part of, judged the abortion necessary, otherwise the woman would have certainly died.
“It was a tragic case - to save the life of the mother, we had to terminate the pregnancy,” said Suzanne Pfister, Vice President of St. Joseph’s.
But this position did not appeal to Bishop Olmsted: “An unborn child is not a disease. While it is certainly true that doctors must try to save the life of a pregnant woman, this cannot happen through the killing of another being,” said the bishop.
Sister McBride was the Superior of the Order of the Sisters of Mercy at St. Joseph’s.
After the excommunication, she was assigned to another post.
“She was the moral conscience of our hospital,” said John Garvie, the primary gastroenterologist, paying tribute to the sister. “No one should criticize the difficult decision she had to make.”
Many in the medical community said they were in agreement with the hospital, rather than the bishop.
“The bishop, rabbis, and other religious authorities really have no voice when it comes to deciding who to save between a mother who must continue to live, or an unborn child,” said Dr. Jacques Moritz to ABC News.
Christian Pettker, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at Yale University School of Medicine, said that this situation is unfortunately common in Catholic hospitals, being limited in their choices.
“In this case, we are talking about a procedure that has a high probability of protecting the life of the mother. This patient suffers from pulmonary hypertension, with the risk of death associated with pregnancy estimated to be over 50%,” Pettker said.
“The hospital ethics commission that approved the procedure certainly took all the options into consideration very carefully, above all considering the risk of death for this patient.”
Benedict XVI has repeatedly reiterated his condemnation of the practice of abortion.
The Holy See’s unreserved condemnation of the practice of abortion, is directed especially at therapeutic abortion: “Abortion is not justified in any case,” he said.
The Pope has reiterated on many occasions that the practice of abortion “costs the lives of many innocent unborn children and remains a painful worry for the Holy See and the entire Church.”
He explained that “the discussion on late-term abortions must cause responsible politicians to reflect on the fact that even a child’s predictable handicap cannot be the reason for an abortion.”
Indeed, according to the Pope, “even a handicapped life is valued and welcomed by God, and because there is no guarantee on earth for anyone, and never a guarantee of a life without physical, psychic or mental limitations.”
According to the catechism of the Catholic Church, human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first instant of its existence, the human being must be recognized with the rights of a person, including the inviolable right of every innocent being to life. Since the first century, the Church has declared the moral evil of every induced abortion.
This teaching has not changed - it still holds.
Direct abortion, which is carried out for a particular purpose or as a means to an end, is gravely contrary to moral law. Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes serious misconduct. The Church punishes this crime against human life with a canonical sanction of excommunication.
“A person who procures an abortion, if it is successful, incurs excommunication latae sententiae by the very fact of having committed the crime,” and as provided by law.
The Church does not intend in this way to restrict the scope of mercy.
It emphasizes the seriousness of the crime committed, the irreparable damage caused to the innocent human being that was killed, to its parents, and to all of society.
The inalienable right to life of every innocent human individual, represents a foundational element of civil society and its laws.