"Fetuses Are Not People" Says Catholics?

This does not bode well for the future, methinks. CNN reports that a Catholic hospital, in defense of a wrongful death lawsuit involving a woman pregnant with twins, has claimed that “fetuses are not legally people”.

Doesn’t this fly in the face of the teachings of the Catholic church? I understand the defense and their reason for using it, but what if they win? It seems like winning this case would be the worst thing that could happen for them.

Quote: Face

This does not bode well for the future, methinks. CNN reports that a Catholic hospital, in defense of a wrongful death lawsuit involving a woman pregnant with twins, has claimed that “fetuses are not legally people”.

Doesn’t this fly in the face of the teachings of the Catholic church? I understand the defense and their reason for using it, but what if they win? It seems like winning this case would be the worst thing that could happen for them.

Ahh, but what if they lose? I see this as +EV for them either way.

Quote: Ayecarumba

Ahh, but what if they lose? I see this as +EV for them either way.

Hmm, interesting.

If they lose, then they’ll have made the State Supreme Court admit that a fetus is a person, which will help their cause in the future, although they’ll have the black eye of going against their own code on the books.

If they win, they’ll have not only completely demolished their own beliefs, but will have actually have fought for that outcome in a legal court.

I dunno, man. Seems like simply standing by their beliefs and possibly taking their lumps would’ve been the best idea. They could’ve still fought the wrongful death suit, but if they lost they would’ve only been out a few mil (a drop to the Catholic organization). For an organization that sells beliefs to endanger that belief just sounds foolhardy.

FrG! Hoping you’ll comment! =)

Now, now. It would be easy to mock the catholic Church over this.

So let's get to it :P

Quote:

Doesn’t this fly in the face of the teachings of the Catholic church? I understand the defense and their reason for using it, but what if they win?

Whether they win or not is immaterial. Merely raising such a defense shows, again, that the church is more interested in expediencey than principles.

But then that's not fair. it's not "the church" making the argument, but a "catholic health care company" (whatever that is). There's not much in the story about the merits of the case, either. For all I know there was nothing anyone could have done for the poor woman and hr twins, or the hospital was criminally negligent. the story doesn't say either way.

Besides, a court has already ruled. So now all "the church" can do, morally speaking, is to order the company not to defend the argument on appeal and hope for the best. If they refuse, then "the church" should sever all connections to the company, whatever those may be.


And in my opinion, (the) Baltimore (Ravens) must be destroyed.

You have to go with the spirit of the law. Same as the woman is AZ who tried to say because she was pregnant she could use the HOv lane.

The church cannot simply pay or else they will keep getting shaken down.

The pro-abortion side is losing the discussion anyways. Notice it is no longer "abortion" but now "woman's health issues."

Many times one has to take a legal position in conflict with a statement they made. The only people I see it bring a big issue to are the haters.

Quote: AZDuffman

The church cannot simply pay or else they will keep getting shaken down.

Oh, I don't fault defense. Of course you fight it, even if you are 100% guilty. That's the American way.

It's the way they're fighting it. Not fighting that what happened may or may not have been avoidable or complications arose, just "fetus? doesnt count." I found it shocking.

It is my understanding that the hospital is the one who is using the argument that a fetus is not legally a person. The Church, as in the Diocese where there hospital resides is furious and completely rejects that arguement. It is horrible that a so called "Catholic" hospital would allow such an arguement to be made, but rest assurred the Catholic Church is not and will never deny that a human life is present and deserves the dignity and respect as such from the first moment of conception.

The real lose to me is that it seems to weaken the idea that a Catholic hospital is really Catholic or that a Catholic University is really Catholic. If their Catholicism is watered down to the point that they don't respect human life then I think the administration can make a stronger arguement that they do not deserve a religious exemption from the HHS mandate, etc.

Quote: AZDuffman

The pro-abortion side is losing the discussion anyways.

Do you have a source for this? I'd say public opinion vacillates back and forth on the issue, but there's not much of a definitive trend over time:

Quote: reno

Do you have a source for this? I'd say public opinion vacillates back and forth on the issue, but there's not much of a definitive trend over time:

I think it was even left-wing Time magazine had it as a cover.

All you need to do is look how they call it "women's health" now. And how even pro-abortion politicians qualify their support. Remember "safe, legal, and rare?"

But compare public opinion on abortion to public opinion on gay marriage or pot legalization. Those other issues show a clear trend, abortion doesn't.