There's no gray area with Judy Brown, as the Catholic Church teaches you are either pro life or not, period.
Yeah, just like the pharisees of Jesus's day. Sadly, her fundamentalist protestant tactics (yes, I know she is a Catholic) have done a great deal of harm to the pro-life movement.
as the Catholic Church teaches you are either pro life or not, period.
Not true on two counts. First and much to Judy Brown's chagrin, the Church does permit an "exception" to the prohibition against the deliberate killing of an embryo. Such an act is permissible as a secondary effect of a legitimate defense. Thus, an ectopic pregnancy may be removed to save the life of the mother. I have an archive of Ms. Brown stating on the EWTN's question and answer forum the false and dangerous advice that the fallopian tube must first rupture before such a procedure would be acceptable. Dear Tim, To "remove an ectopic embryo" is to directly attack a human being with an action that will result in her death. And because #1 is what happens in the vast majority of cases, it is best to let nature take its course and avoid the temptation to play God. You are presuming that if the tube becomes infected, the mother will suffer harm. Not so. If the treating physician is doing his job properly, and imminent death is threatened, he will remove the diseased tube in a timely way. She will survive this with one functioning fallopian tube, which means she can still bear a child. Hope this answers the question. Judie Brown
Answer by Judie Brown on 10-26-2001:
She is more than just wrong, her dangerous theology could get some woman killed. Thankfully the wise nun's at EWTN appear to have removed this radical error from their web site.
Second, your absolutist statement about the Church is simply in error. From Evangelium Vitae, section 73:
ALL's fervent and blind work against positive restrictions on abortion such as the Partial Birth Abortion Ban is both destructive and counter to church teaching. It is of little surprise that ALL seems to side more with Planned Parenthood more than it does with National Right to Life on pro-life legislation. I have personally talked to pro-life legislators who are dumbfounded by having a seemingly pro-life organization like ALL work side-by-side with PP to sink pro-life legislation that would limit and reduce abortion. Although ALL does some good protesting work, their misguided legislative agenda is a liability to the pro-life movement.
BUMP