The Ethics of Ectopic Pregnancy

Ectopic and Pathological Pregnancies in Catholic Morality

Most people can easily see why abortion is wrong. But the issue of abortion on medical grounds is more complex for many when doctors say that, if the baby is not destroyed, both mother and child will inevitably die.

It is argued that between two evils, the lesser should be chosen. Father Bouscaren’s classic work is devoted to the only case in which this conflict is at all likely: the case of ectopic pregnancy.

With the skill of a gifted moralist who is also a persuasive debater, the author shows that, although the death of one person is evidently a lesser evil than the death of two, nonetheless the death of one person intended and produced directly by a violation of the moral law is not a lesser evil than the death of two from natural causes without any sin on the part of anyone.

But he also opposes the simplistic view that would require every ectopic pregnancy to be left to its fatal conclusion. He explains which procedures are morally acceptable and medically useful.