Nun Excommunicated After Saving a Mother's Life With Abortion

Sister Margaret McBride was forced to make a decision between her faith and a woman's life last year, when a 27-year-old mother of four rushed into St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix only 11 weeks pregnant.
Nun advises woman to seek abortion for health and church takes action.

"I think [McBride] prayed and prayed and I'm sure that this weighed on her like a ton of bricks. This was not an easy decision for her," says her long-time friend Mary Jo Macdonald.

As a key member of the hospital's ethics board, McBride gathered with doctors in November of 2009 to discuss the young woman's fate.

The mother was suffering from pulmonary hypertension, an illness the doctors believed would likely kill her and, as a result, her unborn child, if she did not abort the pregnancy.

In the end, McBride chose to save the young woman's life by agreeing to authorize an emergency abortion, a decision that has now forced her out of a job and the Catholic Church.

Despite being described as "saintly," "courageous," and the "moral conscience" of the Catholic hospital, McBride was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted for supporting the abortion.

Full Story

And the Catholic Church wonders why their membership is down.
I'm not sure why the Catholic Church thinks they can make medical decisions in the first place. I realize this is a Catholic Hospital, but I do not see why a nun is on the ethics board with physicians discussing the church's moral relevance of a necessary medical procedure in order to save a woman's life.

With that said though, even the hospital backed her decision to authorize the abortion, yet she was still excommunicated.
Many people see this as a double standard with how the church is treating the handling of sexual abuse by priests.

The Catholic Church needs to get all of it's beliefs up to modern science and get over themselves. It seems the closest they have come in any situation is about the 19th century.

I'm not a religious person, but Ive been told that only God can weigh your deeds against you.

An excommunication is just a scare tactic that the church uses to scare people into doing what they say.

SM

This is nothing but spiritual blackmail. Roman Catholicism teaches that there is no salvation outside their church. Disobey its "teaching authority" and get thrown out.

Thrown out = "go to hell" in their lexicon. You are no longer saved because we have thrown you out of the the only way to heaven. I say, congratulations to that nun for acting on what she knew to be true, regardless what the defensive old men in Rome thought.

Goodness! It's obvious why these old men can't stand abortion; it reduces their potential victim list. Nevermind leaving a family without a mother, never abort.

I am thankful that I freed myself from their ridiculous orthodoxy. For me, excommunication would be a compliment!

Originally posted by SkyMarshall

An excommunication is just a scare tactic that the church uses to scare people into doing what they say.

SM

I have to agree SM.
Seems like there are a lot of things they do that are meant as scare tactics.
Agree with our antiquated ways or go to hell.