User:Wayward710/Margaret McBride

Sr. Margaret Mary McBride, RSM, is a Sister of Mercy who was recently excommunicated from the Catholic Church for allowing an abortion to save the life of a pregnant woman suffering from pulmonary hypertension. Sister Margaret received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing and her Master of Public Administration from the University of San Francisco. She is a board member of several organizations, including Hospice of the Valley, Catholic Charities, Mercy Housing Southwest and Southwest Catholic Health Network. Until recently, she served as Vice President of Mission Integration at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, AZ.

McBride served as a member of a hospital ethics committee who permitted an abortion to be performed on a woman who was 11 weeks pregnant and suffering from pulmonary hypertension. A doctor had estimated the patient's chance of mortality at "close to 100 percent" if she continued with the pregnancy. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted declared that McBride had incurred an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication. In an official statement, the Diocese of Phoenix claimed, "Sr. McBride held a position of authority at the hospital and was frequently consulted on ethical matters. She gave her consent that the abortion was a morally good and allowable act according to Church teaching. Furthermore, she admitted this directly to Bishop Olmsted. Since she gave her consent and encouraged an abortion she automatically excommunicated herself from the Church."

Theologian Michael Liccone stated, "The Church does not condemn 'indirect abortion': abortion that is a foreseen but unintended side effect of a medical procedure designed to preserve the mother’s life."