[AustinBill]

This is the great divide of the modern age. The Bishop, to the extent that he believes and follows Catholic teaching, is not concerned with "medical risk" but rather "spiritual risk". But of course, to admit such a concept as being valid is to go against everything the modern secular world regards as legitimate. To admit that their are such things as spiritual realities which transcend the here-and-now facts of our physical lives is plainly incomprehensible (and more than a bit frightening) to most people, even among "believers".

The Bishop might say such is the nature of our fallen condition.

[ChurtleDawg]

In St. Alphonsus’s moral theology, on one side we have laws-—like no abortion or destruction of life. But on the other side we have mitigating circumstances. Killing in self defense is permissible. A soldier killing in battle is not cause for excommunication is it? That is because circumstances mitigate moral culpability.

It seems to me that the horrific circumstances of this incident mitigate the moral culpability of those involved. This is not an ordinary case of procuring an abortion. This was a case of a raped and abused 9 year old left pregnant, who doctors felt that she was incapable of carrying the children to term. Her life and bodily integrity could have been at grave risk.

What if your daughter had been raped, was pregnant with the rapist’s child and the doctors were telling you that the pregnancy might kill her? This is a freakishly bad set of circumstances to use to make an example out of.

In my own humble opinion, it was wrong for the Bishop to take such a heavy handed approach to this, on both a pratical and theological level.