{"id":588,"date":"2010-12-27T19:42:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-27T19:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/12\/bishop-a-choice-between-life-of-woman-or-fetus-both-should-die.html"},"modified":"2010-12-27T19:42:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-27T19:42:00","slug":"bishop-a-choice-between-life-of-woman-or-fetus-both-should-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/12\/bishop-a-choice-between-life-of-woman-or-fetus-both-should-die.html","title":{"rendered":"Bishop: A Choice Between Life Of Woman Or Fetus? Both Should Die"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Thomas J. Olmsted is the bishop of Phoenix.\u00a0 Today he stripped that town\u2019s oldest Catholic hospital of its affiliation with that benighted faith.\u00a0 The story began last summer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

A woman with a history of pulmonary hypertension sought treatment at the hospital when she was 11 weeks pregnant. The condition, which affects the heart and lungs, is often fatal for pregnant woman. While at St. Joseph\u2019s, the woman\u2019s condition worsened to the point that doctors described her as \u201cmoribund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Health workers consulted with the hospital\u2019s ethics board and agreed that terminating the pregnancy would be allowable under church health rules, because the intent was not to kill the fetus but to save the woman\u2019s life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Basically their choices were to save the mother or not.\u00a0 Either way the baby was not going to survive.\u00a0 The hospital saved the mother.\u00a0 Using the Church\u2019s famous non-relativist morality as his guide, he declared that an immoral abortion had taken place.<\/p>\n

In addition to throwing the hospital out of the Catholic club, he also announced that a nun on its ethics board had excommunicated herself by participating in the decision.<\/p>\n

Last month he wrote a pissy letter<\/a> to hospital officials in which he said that as \u201cSuccessor of the Apostles\u201d he\u2019s the only one with the authority to make these decisions.\u00a0 Not once did he mention the poor woman except to state that by saving her life the hospital had \u201cengaged in an abortive procedure that was immoral\u201d and that it was \u201ca grave scandal.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas J. Olmsted is the bishop of Phoenix.\u00a0 Today he stripped that town\u2019s oldest Catholic hospital of its affiliation with that benighted faith.\u00a0 The story began last summer: A woman with a history of pulmonary hypertension sought treatment at the hospital when she was 11 weeks pregnant. The condition, which affects the heart and lungs, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,27],"class_list":["post-588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-catholicism","tag-morality"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop: A Choice Between Life Of Woman Or Fetus? Both Should Die<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thomas J. 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Olmsted is the bishop of Phoenix.\u00a0 Today he stripped that town\u2019s oldest Catholic hospital of its affiliation with that benighted faith.\u00a0 The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2010\/12\/bishop-a-choice-between-life-of-woman-or-fetus-both-should-die.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-27T19:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. Falick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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