Date of Award

5-4-2020

Document Type

Thesis - SCU Access Only

Publisher

Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2020.

Degree Name

Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL)

Director

Lisa Fullam

Abstract

Pope John Paul II wrote in his encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, that direct abortion is an abortion, willed as an end or as a means, always constitutes a grave moral disorder, since it is the deliberate killing of an innocent human being. However, there seems to be a lack of clarity surrounding the treatment procedures of tubal pregnancies, whether it constitutes a direct or indirect abortion. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when following fertilization, the blastocyst implants elsewhere other than the endometrial lining of the uterine cavity, and nearly 95 percent of these ectopic pregnancies are implanted in the fallopian tubes, which then are called tubal pregnancies. Without proper intervention, this medical condition poses a grave threat to the life of the mother and the fetus, and in the end, lead to hemorrhages causing maternal and fetal death. The treatment procedures of tubal pregnancies are salpingectomy, salpingostomy, administration of methotrexate, and expectant management. The thesis presented two hypothetical tubal pregnancy cases in the Philippine setting. All treatment procedures are justifiable with careful analysis of the principle of double effect and the virtues of solidarity and prudence applied to the medical condition of ectopic pregnancy. Not only were these principles thoroughly analyzed, but it also provided an ethical framework based on the cases presented in a Philippine setting which has a Catholic perspective.

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