[Mercat]

Look, if there’s an entoptic pregnancy and leaving the baby/fetus in the tube will end up killing them both, that to me is the “health of the mother.” Killing a full term baby because the mother is depressed is not “health of the mother.” So it’s a slippery slope and I know that.

[DManA]

I think the word we are looking for is “life” of the mother. Health includes mental health which can include - “If I have this baby I’ll go nuts.”.

[hinckley buzzard]

Ectopic pregnancy is "life of the mother" not merely "health." Pre-eclampsia is another pregnancy-related threat to the "life of the mother." It accounts for a number of maternal deaths.

Other sources of risk to the "health" of the mother in pregnancy can generally be managed with medical care and abortion is not necessary.

[impimp]

Its not a slippery slope. Please learn about the principle of double effect.

[rwilson99]

Life of the mother can in fact be applied with the catholic ethic concept of double effect.

As long as the intent of treating the infection that is inherent to the ectopic pregnancy is to save the mother’s life... And not to kill the child the action is ethical.

Unfortunately... The secondary effect of the treatment is that the child, who’s life was already in peril, will likely pass away.