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Nancy Flanders
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Human Interest·By Nancy Flanders
Catholic hospital in Australia slammed for refusing to commit eugenic abortion
An Australian couple has gone to the media to shame a Catholic hospital that would not kill their “wanted” preborn baby in a eugenic abortion. The hospital said there was no medical reason to end the pregnancy, but now abortion supporters are calling for the hospital to lose funding.
Mater Mothers’ Hospital is one of only four tertiary-level hospitals in Queensland, Australia, providing comprehensive and complex care for pregnant women. As a Catholic hospital, it does not commit induced abortions — the direct and intentional killing of preborn children.
Brent and Elisa learned during the early second trimester that their preborn baby had a ‘serious genetic abnormality,’ which is unspecified.
The couple requested an abortion, which was refused.
Elisa later had a surgical abortion at a private facility.
Mater Mother’s Hospital receives taxpayer funding, and abortion proponents are now calling for it to lose that funding.
Abortion is legal through 22 weeks for any reason in Queensland, and after 22 weeks with the permission of two doctors.
ABC News (Australia Broadcasting Corporation) reported on the story of Elisa, her husband, Brent, and their quest to have a child after marrying in their 40s. They suffered a miscarriage, and eventually underwent unsuccessful IVF. It is unclear whether their pregnancy was natural or via IVF, but when they became pregnant, the 12-week scan showed a “beautiful baby.”
“I have to say we did fall in love with our little baby girl, and we were really thinking that it’s finally happening for us,” Elisa said.
But initial prenatal screening results showed the baby girl was at risk of a genetic abnormality, noted by ABC only as “serious.” Further testing confirmed the baby girl did have the unspecified condition.
“Serious” can mean different things for different people, and the condition was not classified by the couple or by ABC as fatal. This insinuates that the baby girl was likely to survive and live with a chronic illness or disability that was “serious” but not necessarily “life-threatening.”
However, the couple wanted an abortion because their much-wanted child had the “abnormality,” but Mater Mothers’ Hospital, which is Catholic, does not commit elective abortions. Instead, Elisa was sent to a private OB/GYN, who reportedly prescribed a drug to stop the baby’s heartbeat. If that had been successful, Elisa would have then had a D&C to remove the baby’s remains and placenta.
However, this is not what happened.
“Imagine you have this pregnancy you’ve been hoping for so dearly and deeply and you want this pregnancy but you’re being asked to take a pill,” Elisa said. “I was asked to do the termination on my own, left to my own devices, sitting on the couch with my husband and going through hell.”
Self-managed abortion by pill, in which women are “left to [their] own devices,” is promoted by the abortion industry as safe. In fact, abortion group MSI Australia even claims taking a pill on one’s own to abort a child offers “benefits” such as “increased privacy & comfort,” “convenience & flexibility,” “reduced stigma,” and “improved access to care,” adding that “Teleabortion is an option that allows you to manage things privately and on your terms.”
In other words, the woman is left alone, and as many women have testified, may be “going through hell.”
Later, when it was learned the baby’s heart was still beating, Elisa was told she could have an induction abortion in which she would give birth to her now 14-week-old baby girl. Sometimes the baby’s heart is injected with a feticide to kill the child prior to delivery; other times, the baby is born alive and dies due to prematurity or lack of medical care.
But she said, “Under no circumstances did I want to go through this process. I was already so emotionally broken.”
An OB/GYN secured Elisa a surgical abortion at a private facility, which cost her about $1,500. (If she did not have an induction abortion, then she likely had a D&E, or dilation and evacuation procedure. This is also sometimes referred to as a dismemberment abortion, because the abortionist uses a sopher clamp to dismember the baby’s arms and legs from her torso before crushing her skull. In many cases, the baby is alive when the dismemberment process begins.)
Elisa called the process “devastating,” and there is little reason to doubt it, as killing one’s own child — regardless of the location or method — is a terrible and heartbreaking event.
Now, Elisa and Brent are publicly shaming Mater Mothers’ Hospital for its policy against committing medically unnecessary induced abortions.
“I assumed that a world-class hospital would be offering world-class pregnancy services and sometimes in a pregnancy things don’t go to plan,” she said. “No matter how much you want this pregnancy and how careful you are and whatever you do, sometimes there is a termination for medical reasons necessary.”
Intentionally killing one’s child through abortion should never reasonably be considered a “world-class pregnancy service,” and there appears to have been no medical indication to purposefully end her daughter’s life in the womb.
The couple held a backyard memorial for their daughter, whom they named Hope, and now they are trying to conceive a ‘healthy’ baby.
Now that this couple has taken their story public, abortion proponents are calling on the government to remove funding from Mater, which is “Australia’s largest maternity services provider,” because it will not intentionally kill preborn children or target those who receive a prenatal diagnosis.
“Having a religious doctrine taking away this service that I as a Queenslander am eligible for, a termination for medical reasons, or a termination for any reasons, was absolutely devastating,” Elisa said, using the same word she ascribed to the abortion process itself.
While she sees the abortion as medically necessary simply because her daughter was not deemed healthy, the hospital called it “elective,” as there was no medical reason to kill the baby girl.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the hospital said, “Mater respects every woman’s right to follow her conscience in making medical decisions, including requests for elective termination. We understand this is a difficult decision often made under distressing circumstances.”
The spokesperson added that it works to “ensure patients can access other services to discuss treatment options,” and that, “[l]ike most public hospitals in Australia, Mater does not offer elective surgical terminations” (emphasis added).
Dr. Erica Millar, a research fellow at La Trobe University, called for the hospital to lose funding.
“As a level six, or tertiary-level hospital, it should be providing the most comprehensive and complex gynaecological care available and it’s clearly not doing this,” she claimed, noting that other Catholic-run hospitals, such as Mercy Hospital in Melbourne and St. John of God in Perth, do not commit abortions either. “I think we should be asking the question of whether or not public funds should be directed to hospitals that are refusing to provide certain gynaecological services.”
Others believe Mater Mothers’ Hospital should lose funding simply because it’s Catholic. “I can’t for the life of me understand how the church runs the major women’s health service on the south side of Brisbane, under their rules, paid for by the taxpayer,” said an unnamed OB/GYN.
ABC asked Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls if the government would reconsider its funding agreement with Mater. A spokesperson said simply, “The funding and delivery of public patient health services for Queensland Health by Mater is under the provisions of the Mater Public Health Services Act 2008. Mater complies with all state and federal legislative health requirements including the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018, including the provision of termination pathways for private and public patients.”
Induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of preborn children — is not medically necessary. When a pregnancy must end for medical reasons, the child can be delivered via induction of labor or C-section. There are instances in which the child will tragically not survive, but this does not equate to abortion because the goal of the procedure was not to end the baby’s life but to heal and treat the mother.
Induced abortion is not medically necessary for children who receive a prenatal diagnosis. Killing them in the womb because of a diagnosis is an act of discrimination against a person based on his or her health status. It is an elitist, ableist attitude that wrongly claims certain lives are not worth living or saving.
Abortion is legal for any reason through 22 weeks of pregnancy in Queensland. It is also legal after 22 weeks if two doctors sign off on the procedure.
Mater’s stance on not committing elective abortions is, in part, religious, but it is also based fully on science.
Preborn children are living human beings, whose hearts have been beating since as early as 21 days post-fertilization. Just because they are growing in their mothers’ wombs does not mean they are any less human than those who have been born. From the moment of fertilization, each embryo and fetus is a unique human being, with her own DNA separate from her mother.
A health diagnosis does not change her humanity, her value, her dignity, or the respect she is owed. Her parents created her, and owed her a debt of justice to love and care for her, regardless of her health.
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Human Interest·By Nancy Flanders
Catholic hospital in Australia slammed for refusing to commit eugenic abortion
An Australian couple has gone to the media to shame a Catholic hospital that would not kill their “wanted” preborn baby in a eugenic abortion. The hospital said there was no medical reason to end the pregnancy, but now abortion supporters are calling for the hospital to lose funding.
Mater Mothers’ Hospital is one of only four tertiary-level hospitals in Queensland, Australia, providing comprehensive and complex care for pregnant women. As a Catholic hospital, it does not commit induced abortions — the direct and intentional killing of preborn children.
Brent and Elisa learned during the early second trimester that their preborn baby had a ‘serious genetic abnormality,’ which is unspecified.
The couple requested an abortion, which was refused.
Elisa later had a surgical abortion at a private facility.
Mater Mother’s Hospital receives taxpayer funding, and abortion proponents are now calling for it to lose that funding.
Abortion is legal through 22 weeks for any reason in Queensland, and after 22 weeks with the permission of two doctors.
ABC News (Australia Broadcasting Corporation) reported on the story of Elisa, her husband, Brent, and their quest to have a child after marrying in their 40s. They suffered a miscarriage, and eventually underwent unsuccessful IVF. It is unclear whether their pregnancy was natural or via IVF, but when they became pregnant, the 12-week scan showed a “beautiful baby.”
“I have to say we did fall in love with our little baby girl, and we were really thinking that it’s finally happening for us,” Elisa said.
But initial prenatal screening results showed the baby girl was at risk of a genetic abnormality, noted by ABC only as “serious.” Further testing confirmed the baby girl did have the unspecified condition.
“Serious” can mean different things for different people, and the condition was not classified by the couple or by ABC as fatal. This insinuates that the baby girl was likely to survive and live with a chronic illness or disability that was “serious” but not necessarily “life-threatening.”
However, the couple wanted an abortion because their much-wanted child had the “abnormality,” but Mater Mothers’ Hospital, which is Catholic, does not commit elective abortions. Instead, Elisa was sent to a private OB/GYN, who reportedly prescribed a drug to stop the baby’s heartbeat. If that had been successful, Elisa would have then had a D&C to remove the baby’s remains and placenta.
However, this is not what happened.
“Imagine you have this pregnancy you’ve been hoping for so dearly and deeply and you want this pregnancy but you’re being asked to take a pill,” Elisa said. “I was asked to do the termination on my own, left to my own devices, sitting on the couch with my husband and going through hell.”
Self-managed abortion by pill, in which women are “left to [their] own devices,” is promoted by the abortion industry as safe. In fact, abortion group MSI Australia even claims taking a pill on one’s own to abort a child offers “benefits” such as “increased privacy & comfort,” “convenience & flexibility,” “reduced stigma,” and “improved access to care,” adding that “Teleabortion is an option that allows you to manage things privately and on your terms.”
In other words, the woman is left alone, and as many women have testified, may be “going through hell.”
Later, when it was learned the baby’s heart was still beating, Elisa was told she could have an induction abortion in which she would give birth to her now 14-week-old baby girl. Sometimes the baby’s heart is injected with a feticide to kill the child prior to delivery; other times, the baby is born alive and dies due to prematurity or lack of medical care.
But she said, “Under no circumstances did I want to go through this process. I was already so emotionally broken.”
An OB/GYN secured Elisa a surgical abortion at a private facility, which cost her about $1,500. (If she did not have an induction abortion, then she likely had a D&E, or dilation and evacuation procedure. This is also sometimes referred to as a dismemberment abortion, because the abortionist uses a sopher clamp to dismember the baby’s arms and legs from her torso before crushing her skull. In many cases, the baby is alive when the dismemberment process begins.)
Elisa called the process “devastating,” and there is little reason to doubt it, as killing one’s own child — regardless of the location or method — is a terrible and heartbreaking event.
Now, Elisa and Brent are publicly shaming Mater Mothers’ Hospital for its policy against committing medically unnecessary induced abortions.
“I assumed that a world-class hospital would be offering world-class pregnancy services and sometimes in a pregnancy things don’t go to plan,” she said. “No matter how much you want this pregnancy and how careful you are and whatever you do, sometimes there is a termination for medical reasons necessary.”
Intentionally killing one’s child through abortion should never reasonably be considered a “world-class pregnancy service,” and there appears to have been no medical indication to purposefully end her daughter’s life in the womb.
The couple held a backyard memorial for their daughter, whom they named Hope, and now they are trying to conceive a ‘healthy’ baby.
Now that this couple has taken their story public, abortion proponents are calling on the government to remove funding from Mater, which is “Australia’s largest maternity services provider,” because it will not intentionally kill preborn children or target those who receive a prenatal diagnosis.
“Having a religious doctrine taking away this service that I as a Queenslander am eligible for, a termination for medical reasons, or a termination for any reasons, was absolutely devastating,” Elisa said, using the same word she ascribed to the abortion process itself.
While she sees the abortion as medically necessary simply because her daughter was not deemed healthy, the hospital called it “elective,” as there was no medical reason to kill the baby girl.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the hospital said, “Mater respects every woman’s right to follow her conscience in making medical decisions, including requests for elective termination. We understand this is a difficult decision often made under distressing circumstances.”
The spokesperson added that it works to “ensure patients can access other services to discuss treatment options,” and that, “[l]ike most public hospitals in Australia, Mater does not offer elective surgical terminations” (emphasis added).
Dr. Erica Millar, a research fellow at La Trobe University, called for the hospital to lose funding.
“As a level six, or tertiary-level hospital, it should be providing the most comprehensive and complex gynaecological care available and it’s clearly not doing this,” she claimed, noting that other Catholic-run hospitals, such as Mercy Hospital in Melbourne and St. John of God in Perth, do not commit abortions either. “I think we should be asking the question of whether or not public funds should be directed to hospitals that are refusing to provide certain gynaecological services.”
Others believe Mater Mothers’ Hospital should lose funding simply because it’s Catholic. “I can’t for the life of me understand how the church runs the major women’s health service on the south side of Brisbane, under their rules, paid for by the taxpayer,” said an unnamed OB/GYN.
ABC asked Queensland Health Minister Tim Nicholls if the government would reconsider its funding agreement with Mater. A spokesperson said simply, “The funding and delivery of public patient health services for Queensland Health by Mater is under the provisions of the Mater Public Health Services Act 2008. Mater complies with all state and federal legislative health requirements including the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2018, including the provision of termination pathways for private and public patients.”
Induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of preborn children — is not medically necessary. When a pregnancy must end for medical reasons, the child can be delivered via induction of labor or C-section. There are instances in which the child will tragically not survive, but this does not equate to abortion because the goal of the procedure was not to end the baby’s life but to heal and treat the mother.
Induced abortion is not medically necessary for children who receive a prenatal diagnosis. Killing them in the womb because of a diagnosis is an act of discrimination against a person based on his or her health status. It is an elitist, ableist attitude that wrongly claims certain lives are not worth living or saving.
Abortion is legal for any reason through 22 weeks of pregnancy in Queensland. It is also legal after 22 weeks if two doctors sign off on the procedure.
Mater’s stance on not committing elective abortions is, in part, religious, but it is also based fully on science.
Preborn children are living human beings, whose hearts have been beating since as early as 21 days post-fertilization. Just because they are growing in their mothers’ wombs does not mean they are any less human than those who have been born. From the moment of fertilization, each embryo and fetus is a unique human being, with her own DNA separate from her mother.
A health diagnosis does not change her humanity, her value, her dignity, or the respect she is owed. Her parents created her, and owed her a debt of justice to love and care for her, regardless of her health.
Follow Live Action News on Facebook and Instagram for more pro-life news.
Live Action News is pro-life news and commentary from a pro-life perspective.
Our work is possible because of our donors. Please consider giving to further our work of changing hearts and minds on issues of life and human dignity.
Contact editor@liveaction.org for questions, corrections, or if you are seeking permission to reprint any Live Action News content.
Guest Articles: To submit a guest article to Live Action News, email editor@liveaction.org with an attached Word document of 800-1000 words. Please also attach any photos relevant to your submission if applicable. If your submission is accepted for publication, you will be notified within three weeks. Guest articles are not compensated (see our Open License Agreement). Thank you for your interest in Live Action News!
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