This comes from the comments of a powerful video where anti-abortion activist Stephanie Gray says that she would rather die than allow her own child to die.
From the comments (these are public, thus fair game):
@nicksimmons1305
Is this the official position of the Church?
@GoIrish2026
The official position is that a pregnant mother is allowed to take any measures to save their own life (I.e. chemo), even if they may harm the baby as an unfortunate side effect. However, no action can be taken to intentionally kill the child
@nicksimmons1305
@GoIrish2026 Ok, thank you for your reply. That sounds reasonable at first. Though, if that is true, then perhaps this poses a broader question. I assume this implies that the Catholic Church does NOT believe it is ok to kill one person to save a thousand, correct? In the case of abortion, what if both the mother and the baby would die anyway? What if abortion would “save” at least one life? Sorry, but these are tough questions that need to be asked. While I admire this woman’s pro life stance, I am not entirely sure if it is realistic for most women who are actually in that situation. Don’t get me wrong, I agree that the overwhelming majority of abortions are completely unnecessary anyway.
These aren’t tough questions. They’re actually very easy questions.
- No, you can’t commit homicide, even if it will save a thousand lives. There are trolley problem like nuances there but broadly speaking that’s correct.
- If the mother would die unless she commits homicide, the mother would have no moral options open to her besides dying. You can’t commit sins.
- These aren’t tough questions, they’re very basic follow-ups to this three part syllogism:
Premise 1: A unique human organism is created at conception
Premise 2: Directly killing unique human organisms is homicide and thus always immoral
Conclusion: It is immoral to directly kill a unique human organism even in the womb
Apply this here. Are you attempting to directly kill a unique human organism for any reason? Then it’s homicide and thus immoral.
Abortion does not create tough questions. It creates uncomfortable answers.
The Mechanical Dragon 