When is it necessary to protect the life of a pregnant mom from the child she is carrying?
According to American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, (AAPLOG)—Never. “We do not believe the purposeful killing of the unborn child is ever necessary to save the life of the mother.”
But hold on! What if the mom has cancer? And she could die without treatment?
The rest of the story from AAPLOG—“But it is, rarely, necessary to end the pregnancy in the course of treatment to save the mother’s life. In this kind of case, we would be trying to save the life of both our patients—the mother and the premature child. And we acknowledge that in some cases, the child would be too premature to have any chance for survival.”
If surgery or treatment is necessary during a pregnancy, the lives of both mom and child need to be considered. Both lives are valuable, we don’t want to lose either one. Purposefully killing the child is inappropriate and unnecessary. But as AAPLOG is stating, if in the efforts to treat the mom, and also trying to save the child, the child dies, that is an unintentional death.
Randy Alcorn, pastor and author, agrees, “Efforts can and should be made that value the lives of both mother and child.” He tells about a friend who was diagnosed with a life-threatening, and rapidly spreading cancer while pregnant. There wasn’t time for the child to become viable before the mother would die from cancer, so they opted for surgery. He says, “The surgery was not to kill the child, but to save the life of the mother. The death of the child was an unintentional effect of life saving efforts.”
These situations are terribly heartbreaking to have to deal with, but if we value life, and consider both lives, the outcome will leave us with the knowledge that we did all we could to protect life.
Shining The Light 