Black-clad Poles protest proposal to completely ban abortion

Just today I saw these stats on the internet.

Total Americans killed in every war
1,326,612

US executions since 1608
15,801

Jews killed in the holocaust
5,750,000

Babies murdered by abortions in the U.S.
54,559,615

One I'd heard of was pulmonary hypertension with right heart failure in early pregnancy (before baby could live outside of the womb).

Every pregnant woman’s heart — even in women who are completely healthy — becomes overloaded with work during pregnancy and even more so during labor and delivery. In a patient who ALREADY suffers from pulmonary hypertension and whose heart is already under stress, the risks are particularly high and can often result in the death of both the mother and the baby.

It's a very rare condition, but deadly.

Sometimes an apparently healthy woman develops Pulmonary hypertension during the pregnancy. It is not certain what causes this, but it may have something to do with abnormal levels of placental growth factor which lowers the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood --- particularly prevalent in women who already have sickle-cell disease.

> Like I said, rare but awful when it happens.

I think the way it's treated now is to deliver the baby even if it is extremely premature. If (I should say "when") the baby dies, that is foreseeable and very sad, but not deliberate (i.e. they're trying to save the baby too, though they know the chances of baby's survival are very low.) and is neither medically nor legally considered an abortion.

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

There were, in fact there are all together, about 50,000 pro abortion activists in Poland who actively take part in their rallies.

As a response to The Black March, the Polish pro life movements, and which is UNPRECEDENTED so far, together with the Catholic Church female orders (nuns), organize the counter rally of unprecedented tremendous proportions called The White March, which is thought to be patterned on the White March of 17/05/1981 in Krakow, when up to 2,000,000 Poles dressed in white gathered on the prayer after John Paul II had been shot on May 13.

It's said that only the very head of the rally will be led by ca. 1000 children with Down Syndrome, which number stands for the Down Syndrome yearly victims of the legal abortion in Poland.

The rest I even shudder to think...

There is a publication called Pulmonary Hypertension News that not only notes a high morbidity rate for the mother with that condition during pregnancy because her heart is working harder to pump a blood volume 50% higher than normal but also discusses complications for the baby born of a mother with that condition.

From that article, I gather that pulmonary hypertension is not inevitably as clear cut a case of double effect as is tubal pregnancy. Without intervention, in tubal pregnancy, BOTH mother and child WILL die. I am no medical expert but I gather from the Pulmonary Hypertension News that there are at least some cases (however risky) in which both mother and child survive, probably some where mother miscarries but survives, maybe even some where mother does not survive but the baby can survive delivery. I don't know. We pro-lifers must be scrupulously careful about any exceptions that the death of the baby is truly a case of double effect and not merely abortion.

When my father was in his last days from inoperable and incurable pancreatic cancer, I actually had a private discussion with my archbishop as to the moral parameters of end-of-life care and the distinctions as to heroic care and allowing him to die when death was imminent and inevitable. The archbishop even gave me guidance as to theologians whose works I might consult (particularly Germaine Grisez) to understand Pope John Paul II's teachings on the matter.

That sort of thing is what we should do as to specific medical conditions that may threaten the life of the mother or the baby. There will be circumstances where double effect prevails and others where it does not. As to pulmonary hypertension, I suspect but do not know that any decision will be very dependent on the facts of the individual case. Some women with the condition may be virtually certain to die. Others not so much. It may be hard to draw an absolute line.

I think your observations are correct. Pulmonary Hypertension in pregnancy is fraught with uncertainties. It is not at all settled that a placental malfunction can precipitate or aggravate the condition by causing blood/circulator problems. And the premature delivery of a child absolutely certain to die (say it was 20 weeks or before) can be justified only if its death in the mother's womb was also absolutely certain.

Under the principle of"Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur" --- No one is obligated to perform the impossible --- moving a dying baby from one place to another, even though you know it's still going to die, is not, morally, an intended abortion.

But as in all uncertain cases, I suppose your best assurance is to have a highly morally-trained and committed doctor --- one who really "sweats the details" --- in an equally morally-committed hospital.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.