RE: The question is should we take the life of an innocent child for the convenience of the Mother or Father.
For convenience, NO. No abortion is justified.
But, In order to save the life of the mother ? If Natural Law (the Catholic poster in this thread ) is to be believe, apparently the Catholic answer is NO, the child should be spared. The mother should die, sacrifice her life in order for her child to live whether she wants to or not.
I am not sure if this is Southern Baptist teaching.
As for this particular case, I am not ready to pronounce a judgement on who is lying in this case.
If St. Joseph is going to appeal to higher authorities, I say let the case play out so that we can know the entire story.
The Church teaches that the doctor should try to save BOTH. In this day, and age, depending on the stage of the pregnancy, it can be done. Otherwise, the delivery could be done, and an attempt made to save the baby, but if it dies, at least it wasn't killed intentionally.