[american colleen]

Abortion is intrinsically evil, and is never morally permissible (except in the rare case where a mother's life may be endangered).

I thought abortion isn't even permissible under those circumstances (the life of the mother)?

[Desdemona]

I thought abortion isn't even permissible under those circumstances (the life of the mother)?

As far as I know, only ectopic. I know a woman who had one and was minutes from death due to a ruptured tube. They didn't even have time to check her blood type before they took it out.

[ninenot]

Principle of Double Effect. Not carefully worded--it means that a doctor may act to save the life of the mother. If in so doing, the baby is lost, there is no sin.

HOWEVER, the action CANNOT be taken with the INTENTION of losing the baby--only to save the mother.

Thomas Aquinas...

[Aquinasfan]

I thought abortion isn't even permissible under those circumstances (the life of the mother)?

I'm pretty sure that the principle of double-effect applies, where a single action results in two effects. If the secondary effect is "less evil" than the primary effect, then the action is permissible.

So in an ectopic pregnancy, for example, the primary action of removing the baby saves the mother's life but also results in the secondary effect of killng the baby. In this case the secondary effect is "the same or less evil" than the primary action.

The mother may choose to give her life for her child in some cases (as when a mother has uterine cancer, for example). But I don't think this is necessary. It would certainly be an example of heroic virtue.