# "This is a Catholic country". Your foetus is more important than your life. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2012, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966 "2012-11-14T07:49:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/22 "2012-11-14T16:23:53Z")
> [@sugaree](#): > > That’s some real blame-the-victim stuff right there. And really, threatening or attacking staffers in a hospital isn’t going to get you anything except escorted out by security. So if that was your wife you’d just… let it her die in agony? I’d do whatever, WHATEVER it took to make sure somebody helped her. If that means I take a few doctors hostage, so be it. I’d deal with the consequences later. My wife’s life \>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\> jail time. My wife’s life \>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\> Than some asshole religiously retarded doctors. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/23 "2012-11-14T16:50:17Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Wow. I would have been holding doctors at gunpoint to help my wife. And had she died, I’d be taking some doctors with me too. > [@Kinthalis](#): > > If that means I take a few doctors hostage, so be it. I’d deal with the consequences later. I don’t doubt you really, really^^^^^^^^^^^^^really, love your wife, but you are being a bit of a tit here. Internet Tough Guy is not a good look for anyone. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/24 "2012-11-14T16:58:46Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Wow. I would have been holding doctors at gunpoint to help my wife. And had she died, I’d be taking some doctors with me too. > > How do you just stand around and let some stupid people torture your wife to death? To indulge your little fantasy, it’s highly unlikely that her husband would have ready access to a gun. This is the US. You get all the guns and abortions you like over there and long may that continue. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/25 "2012-11-14T16:58:49Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I don’t doubt you really, really^^^^^^^^^^^^^really, love your wife, but you are being a bit of a tit here. Internet Tough Guy is not a good look for anyone. Yeah I guess it’s just empty words on an internet forum. Still doesn’t change the fact that that’s what I would do if there were no other options available to me. I just wouldn’t let something like that happen to my wife. Are you saying that you would? You would just throw your hands up in the air at the injustice of it all? Just say: well it sucks that these religious ass-hats are killing my wife in a horribly painful way, but dem’s the brakes. Sorry babe. I mean, WTF? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/26 "2012-11-14T17:05:08Z")
What the hell kind of Doctors are these? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/27 "2012-11-14T17:05:26Z")
Of course I mean to say\* not\* the US. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/28 "2012-11-14T17:06:40Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > What the hell kind of Doctors are these? Ones who don’t want to risk life imprisonment? ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/29 "2012-11-14T17:25:01Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Yeah I guess it’s just empty words on an internet forum. > > Still doesn’t change the fact that that’s what I would do if there were no other options available to me. > > I just wouldn’t let something like that happen to my wife. > > Are you saying that you would? You would just throw your hands up in the air at the injustice of it all? > > Just say: well it sucks that these religious ass-hats are killing my wife in a horribly painful way, but dem’s the brakes. Sorry babe. > > I mean, WTF? I’m more WTF at the notion that if your wife was miscarrying, **before** you rushed her to hospital, you’d make sure you had your gun with you. And do they really let people who are carrying a gun into maternity - or any other kind of - hospitals in America? Good grief. The death of this lady at University College Hospital Galway is a travesty and a tragedy. Surely the existing law dealing with the legality of a medical abortion on the grounds of risk of death to the mother applied in this case? Whoever is in charge of surgical decisions at that hospital should be charged over her death. Another thought - is it going to turn out that none of the gynaecological surgeons on staff knew how to perform a termination? I doubt abortions are part of the curriculum at the RCSI, after all. But even if that was the case, surely, surely, the head sharang could have given the go ahead and found someone who knew how to do it? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/30 "2012-11-14T17:36:32Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > I’m more WTF at the notion that if your wife was miscarrying, **before** you rushed her to hospital, you’d make sure you had your gun with you. And do they really let people who are carrying a gun into maternity - or any other kind of - hospitals in America? Good grief. Well no. I’d probably have to drive home to get the gun. And then traffic would probably be a bitch… You’re probably right. Better to just let her die and wait for the sweet, sweet pay-off from suing everyone involved. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/31 "2012-11-14T17:40:37Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Ones who don’t want to risk life imprisonment? I’ll repeat **Noone Special** ’s post: > [@Noone\_Special](#): > > Very well, these doctors should be prosecuted for (at the very least) negligent homicide… Make it a contest between different laws. Don’t know if such applicable laws exist in Ireland, but if the government can make even a single federal charge of _anything_ stick, they should immediately file it. Put notice out that such cowardly inaction will be punished. And yes, repeal that idiotic 1861 statute tout suite. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/32 "2012-11-14T17:40:43Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Ones who don’t want to risk life imprisonment? This is another thing. I can’t comprehend these people. How can you possibly lack this type of empathy and watch a woman die in agony like this? I would have helped the woman, idiot religious laws be damned. Hell, I might have concocted something with the husband/family. “Ok, I’m going to tell them that you threatened me in order to get me to help your wife. Because if I don’t help her she is going to fucking die horribly, and fuck them and their laws. We’ll deal with the bureaucrats later, when your wife is safe. Deal?” ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/33 "2012-11-14T17:40:52Z")
“But…but…” -Joe Walsh ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/34 "2012-11-14T17:46:23Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Well no. I’d probably have to drive home to get the gun. And then traffic would probably be a bitch… You’re probably right. Better to just let her die and wait for the sweet, sweet pay-off from suing everyone involved. I never said it was better to let her die. I never mentioned suing anyone. I just think your willy waving was daft. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/35 "2012-11-14T17:51:34Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > I never said it was better to let her die. I never mentioned suing anyone. > I just think your willy waving was daft. I’m sorry I thought this was the place for recreational outrage. Well, were as you decided to hop on the ferry to a nearby hispter town for some antiquing, I am on my own island near Tahiti sipping those margaritas. Don’t see why that’s got you so riled up at me. Should we not be outraged at the callousness of these doctors? At the jack ass politicians, at the idiot religiously brain dead? Can I not express my outrage by saying that I’d take the matter into my own hands if it was my wife dying like this? I really don’t give a shit if you think I wouldn’t actually do it. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/36 "2012-11-14T18:00:43Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I’m sorry I thought this was the place for recreational outrage. > > Well, were as you decided to hop on the ferry to a nearby hispter town for some antiquing, I am on my own island near Tahiti sipping those margaritas. > > Don’t see why that’s got you so riled up at me. Should we not be outraged at the callousness of these doctors? At the jack ass politicians, at the idiot religiously brain dead? > > Can I not express my outrage by saying that I’d take the matter into my own hands if it was my wife dying like this? > > I really don’t give a shit if you think I wouldn’t actually do it. Your first post in this thread: > [@Kinthalis](#): > > Wow. I would have been holding doctors at gunpoint to help my wife. And had she died, I’d be taking some doctors with me too. > > **How do you just stand around and let some stupid people torture your wife to death?** Your first sentence was fine, though completely Internet Tough Guy. The second sentence can easily be interpreted as blaming the husband for NOT getting a gun and threatening the doctors. I can’t find the it online, but all I can think of when I read your posts is the scene from _Hobo with a Shotgun_ where Rutger Hauer is threatening to murder all the doctors & nurses in the ER if they don’t save his girlfriend’s life. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/37 "2012-11-14T18:56:18Z")
Double posting, disregard. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/38 "2012-11-14T18:58:19Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > “But…but…” > > -Joe Walsh Morals before ethics. Law before right. Piety before mercy. Scripture before God. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/39 "2012-11-14T19:18:03Z")
Man, that’s a heartbreaking story. My spouse died - for no good reason? I would be outraged, too. I can see the couple taking the doctors’ advice, though - doctors present themselves as authorities, and it can be very difficult to go against them, especially if the whole system is backing them up. So she wants an abortion, and he wants an abortion, but the doctors say no, and any other hospital they could go to would say no? What do you do then? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/40 "2012-11-14T20:15:28Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Your first post in this thread: > > Your first sentence was fine, though completely Internet Tough Guy. The second sentence can easily be interpreted as blaming the husband for NOT getting a gun and threatening the doctors. > > I can’t find the it online, but all I can think of when I read your posts is the scene from _Hobo with a Shotgun_ where Rutger Hauer is threatening to murder all the doctors & nurses in the ER if they don’t save his girlfriend’s life. Didn’t mean to blame the husband, though it certainly came off as such. It’s just that I would have done something. I can understand that there might have been other reasons why he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Freakenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b782af/32.png) [@Freakenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freakenstein)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966/41 "2012-11-14T20:32:08Z")
If I understood the story right, the doctors knew the kid is going to die, but it had to die all by itself, before the doctors were going to do anything for the mother? That’s pretty much a murder in My eyes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-is-a-catholic-country-your-foetus-is-more-important-than-your-life/640966.md?page=3)