# How do Partial Abortions Fit into the Pro-life View Point? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 30, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-partial-abortions-fit-into-the-pro-life-view-point/90416 "2001-10-30T01:48:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-partial-abortions-fit-into-the-pro-life-view-point/90416/21 "2001-11-01T01:25:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by booklover \* > \*\*Not to hijack this thread, but I’ve always wondered how prolifers justify not going for abortion in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. I’m talking severe medical illness here—to my view that seems like “Oh, we’d LOVE to have the mother die!!! Just don’t kill the child!” Any clue as to why they think that way??? \*\* Typically, they DON’T think that way. Abortion proponents sometimes use that caricature, but the vast majority of pro-lifers do not hold that view. Basically, pro-lifers believe that we have an obligation to honor the sanctity of life. Ergo, if the mother’s life is not in danger, at major risk, abortion is not justified. If the mother’s life is endangered and the fetus is viable, then a premature delivery is recommended. Conversely, if the mother’s life is in serious jeopardy, and if the unborn has no hope of surviving (e.g. in the case of ectopic pregnancies), then most pro-lifers consider this to be a medically necessary procedure. (Also, Dr. Jack Willke points out that, in any event, such procedures are not abortions in the _typical_ sense of the word.) Now there may be some situations where the physician can _ **must** _ choose between saving the mother or the child. (I say “may be” because such situations are largely hypothetical, and because the fetus can typically be delivered via C-section if has reached viability.) If such a situation occurs, then the physician must use his best judgment to determine which person to save. In other words, his paramount duty is to uphold the value of human life, rather than to throw it away. ---
**Author:** ![Katisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bcef8e/32.png) [@Katisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katisha)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-partial-abortions-fit-into-the-pro-life-view-point/90416/22 "2001-11-01T02:30:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beagledave \* > \*\*I might modify your description of church teaching about fertility drugs with a small caveat. From the [U.S. Catholic Bishops](http://www.nccbuscc.org/prolife/programs/rlp/98rlphaa.htm)… > > “… Fertility drugs may also be used, with the caution that large multiple pregnancies may put mother and infants at risk.” > \*\* Right. **Guinastasia** said that the Church condemns _all_ fertility treatments, though, and I was just pointing out that they don’t. In any case, the bit you quoted is sound advice for _anyone_… ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-partial-abortions-fit-into-the-pro-life-view-point/90416/23 "2001-11-01T03:39:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by genie \* > \*\*Somebody correct me if I am wrong. I have heard that when you take these drugs, they do tests to see how many eggs have been released, and you can see the maximum number of babies you may end up with. > \*\* They do an ultrasound. An average woman in an average cycle will release one egg - possibly two and in very rare cases more - without any fertility drugs. On Clomid I released between 5 and 9 eggs estimated during each cycle. On Fertinex I had an 11+ egg cycle (we stopped counting). But the ultrasound is an estimation only (you can’t get a total view of the overies), and there is no guarentee eggs will be actually released, fertilized or implant - the vast majority of released eggs will not result in a pregnancy. I never conceived while on fertility drugs - or to put it more accurately, never became pregnant. My RE suspects I conceived plenty, but my problem was implantation. To the best of my knowledge, all fertility drugs will produce in the average woman more than three eggs per cycle, assuming it stimulates ovulation in that woman at all. Multiple births from fertility treatments are not rare, twins being a common outcome, and triplets and maybe quads being a risk you should consider. Quints are rare enough to be a negligible risk. At least this was the case five years ago when I was going through treatment. ---
**Author:** ![Super\_Gnat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Super\_Gnat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Super_Gnat)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-partial-abortions-fit-into-the-pro-life-view-point/90416/24 "2001-11-01T04:20:11Z")
> [@](#): > > As I tried to make clear, human vs. nonhuman is not the issue in my mind at the moment. > > I am asking for clarification, from Super Gnat, about her “choosing among children” point. Since the hypothetical mother to be on fertility drugs is just beginning her multiple pregnancy, it still strikes me that we’re not talking about children. Human lives, maybe. But not children. Sorry. I was trying to put this from a pro-lifer’s viewpoint, but human lives still might have been a better choice of words. When I wrote this, I was also thinking of the couple that had nonuplets (?). From what I’ve heard, one of the reasons that they carried all of them to term was because they felt it was immoral to choose. This is how it looks to those who see the embryos as human lives: it’s choosing between your offspring, which is a sticky situation all around. > [@](#): > > That’d be mighty difficult. By the time you’re aware of how many babies you’re pregnant with, they’re already a whole lot larger than a blastula and would probably die if you froze them. _blush_ ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-partial-abortions-fit-into-the-pro-life-view-point/90416/25 "2001-11-01T14:21:50Z")
Then I stand corrected. I was under the impression that ALL forms of fertility treatments were off limits. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-partial-abortions-fit-into-the-pro-life-view-point/90416.md?page=1)