- What about a woman whose life is threatened by pregnancy or childbirth?
Answer:
It is an extremely rare case when abortion is required to save the mother’s life.
When two lives are threatened and only one can be saved, doctors must always save that life. In an ectopic pregnancy the child is developing outside the uterus. He has no hope of survival and may have to be removed to save the mother’s life
Abortion for the mother’s life and abortion for the mother’s health are usually not the same issue. A woman with toxemia will have adverse health reaction and considerable inconvenience, including probably needing to lie down for much of the pregnancy. This is a difficulty, but not normally a threat to her life.
- What about a woman whose unborn baby is diagnosed as deformed or handicapped
Answer:
The doctor’s diagnosis is sometimes wrong.
The child’s deformity is often minor.
Medical tests for deformity may cause as many problems as they detect.
Handicapped children are often happy, always precious, and usually delighted to be alive.
Handicapped children are not social liabilities, and bright and “normal” people are not always social assets.
Using dehumanizing language may change our thinking but not the child’s nature or value.
Our society is hypocritical in its attitude toward handicapped children.
The adverse psychological effects of abortion are significantly more traumatic for those who abort because of deformity.
The arguments for killing a handicapped unborn child are valid only if they also apply to killing born people who are handicapped.
Abortions due to probable handicaps rob the world of unique human beings who would significantly contribute to society.
- What about a woman who is pregnant due to rape or incest.
Answer:
Pregnancy resulting from rape is extremely rare
Rape is never the fault of the child; the guilty party, not the innocent party, should be punished.
The violence of abortion parallels the violence of rape.
Abortion does not bring healing to a rape victim.
A child is a child regardless of the circumstances of his conception.
What about already-born people who are products of rape?
All that is true of children conceived in rape is true of those conceived in incest.
No adverse circumstance for one human being changes the nature and worth of another human being.
Laws must not be built on exceptional cases. If a building is burning, it is permissible for someone to break in to save lives or property. However, recognizing the legitimacy of this exception does not mean that shouldn’t have laws against the usual cases of forcibly entry and trespassing. That an exception may exist does not invalidate the normal standard of behaviour.