September 23, 2025 • 15 mins
When it comes to wrestling with the difficult medical questions surrounding abortion in cases where the life and health of the mother are threatened, what is the correct moral, medical and compassionate way to approach these conversations? Former PPL board member, Dr. Martha Leatherman, examines each potential difficulty and outlines the abortion alternatives and treatments that apply to each.
This links to an article originally published in First Things magazine about high-risk pregnancy management: Medicalizing Abortion Decisions
A link to a site with many sources for information on Successful Ectopic Pregnancy
Stand to Reason article: Are Prolifers Being Inconsistent if They Save the Mother's Life rather than the Baby's?
See also Baby Chris blog for Developmental Week 19 (Episode 18) "The Tree in the Middle of the Garden"
Scripture references in this episode include:
Matthew 20:23 John 9:6 Mark 23-25
Isaiah 35:5 Mark 10:52 Luke 7:18-22
Matthew 13:15-16 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 Hosea 4:6
Matthew 15:14 I Corinthians 2:14 Ezekiel 34:11, 16
Matthew 18:12 Romansa 1:20 I John 3:1-2
John 8:11-12
https://www.ppl.org/baby-chris
Abortion is never medically necessary
Abortion Pill Reversal https://abortionpillreversal.com 24/7 Helpline at 877.558.0333 Email: help@apr.life or Chat at the weblink above
Post abortion recovery for both women and men at https://www.rachelsvineyard.org
Life Training Institute https://www.prolifetraining.com
Charlotte Lozier Institute https://lozierinstitute.org
Guttmacher Institute https://guttmacher.org
Compelled by the gospel, PPL equips Presbyterians to champion human life at every stage. PPL.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Host (00:22):
Welcome back to the table.
I'm your host, DeborahHollifield, and this week we're
going to have a physician helpus with the difficult medical
questions we wrestle with aboutthe issues associated with the
health and life of a pregnantwoman.
Much misinformation iscirculated that feeds into our
sense of reasonableness andcompassion and warps our
(00:44):
understanding of the truth withconfusion.
This week's essay is preparedby Dr.
Martha Leatherman, a former PPLboard member, and it's entitled
What About the Life of theMother?
There is little in the debateover abortion that galvanizes
people and brings out ourheartfelt compassion more than
the situation in which amother's life is endangered by
(01:07):
continuing a pregnancy.
As Christians, we love all thelife that God has created and
pray that the beautiful blessingof a new life will not threaten
that of the mother who carrieshim.
Presbyterians protecting lifeis committed to defending all
life from fertilization tonatural death, and that includes
the lives of pregnant women.
(01:28):
From this biblical position, wecan examine the issues
surrounding this difficult setof circumstances.
First, what is abortion?
Direct abortion is thedeliberate killing of an unborn
child.
Treatment intended to save thelife of the mother that results
in the death of the child is nota direct abortion.
(01:49):
So treatment in which the aimof the intervention is to save
the mother, but that involvesthe unavoidable death of the
unborn baby is not abortion.
What are the life-threateningconditions?
There are actually very fewtruly life-threatening
conditions that would lead evento the consideration of killing
an unborn baby.
(02:10):
And with many of these threats,we can treat the mother and
save the child.
According to Dr.
Alan Gutmacher of PlannedParenthood, today it is possible
for almost any patient to bebrought through pregnancy alive
unless she suffers from a fatalillness, such as cancer or
leukemia, and if so, abortionwould be unlikely to prolong,
(02:32):
much less save life.
A recent study out of theUnited Kingdom found that
between 1968 and 2011, only0.006% of abortions were
performed to save the life ofthe mother.
Pre-eclampsia occurs in one inapproximately every 12
(02:55):
pregnancies, 5 to 8%.
This is a condition ofswelling, elevated blood
pressure, and protein in theurine.
This condition can beeffectively treated either by
delivery after 36 weeks or bybed rest prior to 36 weeks.
Delivery can also be attemptedafter 24 weeks with reasonable
(03:16):
assurance that the fetus willlive.
In some cases, delivery priorto 24 weeks may be necessary,
although the likelihood of thechild's survival is reduced.
In all of these cases, thedoctor's attempts to deliver the
child and care for her afterbirth and are not to perform
abortion with the deliberateintention of killing the child.
(03:39):
Ecclampsia, toxemia withseizures, occurs one in
approximately 2,000 pregnancies,or 0.05%.
This condition is marked byseizures that are caused by
pregnancy as opposed to someother known factor.
Treatment is the same as forpre-eclampsia, but this
condition is more severe,usually requiring delivery
(04:02):
either naturally or byC-section.
Placental abruption occurs inone in 100 pregnancies, 1%.
The placenta detaches from theuterine wall.
If not treated, this can harmboth mother and child.
Again, abortion is not thetreatment in this case.
When the placenta has detachedfrom the uterine wall, the child
(04:25):
is already at grave risk ofdeath.
The treatment is designed toprevent further detachment from
the uterus.
In very rare cases, massivebleeding occurs when the
placenta detaches, in whichcase, if the placenta is not
surgically removed along withthe baby, both mother and baby
will die.
In such cases, the decision ismade to try to save the life of
(04:49):
the mother, understanding thatthere is a risk that the baby
will die, and that this ispreferable to both mother and
baby dying.
Distosia.
Prior to the turn of thetwentieth century, one type of
dystosia, any case of abnormalor difficult labor, when the
(05:09):
baby's head is too large to passthrough the mother's pelvis,
presented pregnant women indeveloped countries with an
agonizing choice to save herchild by undergoing a dangerous
and probably lethal cesareansection, or to save her own life
by undergoing a craniotomyoperation that crushed the
baby's skull.
(05:30):
Even today, this choice maystill be presented to some women
in developing countries whereC-sections are not routine.
The position of Presbyteriansprotecting life in such
situations is that first, thisis not an issue in the United
States or other developedcountries where the majority of
elective abortions take place,and second, that our efforts
(05:53):
should be to improve improvingmaternal care in developing
countries rather than promotingabortion.
Ectopic pregnancy.
In an ectopic pregnancy, thenewly conceived human being
implants on the wall of thefallopian tube or some other
tissue instead of on the wall ofthe uterus.
(06:14):
As the embryonic human beinggrows, the fallopian tube will
rupture, causing severe bloodloss and probably death.
In these cases, there is no wayto save the child's life.
If we do nothing, both humanbeings will die.
Because we believe it is betterto save one life than to lose
(06:34):
two.
We remove the child, whichcauses his death, and save the
mother.
The death of the child is anunintended, although foreseen,
consequence.
It should be noted that thereare some, albeit rare cases,
where a mother has successfullydelivered an ectopic pregnancy.
Placenta previa occurs one in200 pregnancies, or 0.5%.
(06:58):
The placenta covers all or partof the cervix.
Although this condition has thepotential to be
life-threatening, with propermedical management, usually bed
rest, but sometimeshospitalization, both mother and
child can be protected fromharm.
In the case of an earlyplacenta previa, sometimes the
(07:21):
baby does not survive because ofa miscarriage, but that is a
natural occurrence, not causedby deliberate abortion.
There is no moral wrong here.
This is simply a specific caseof miscarriage in which no
person causes or intends thechild's death.
Other cases.
(07:41):
In most other cases of lifeendangerment, we can treat both
the mother and the child.
For example, a pregnant womanwith cancer can be treated while
the baby tolerates thechemotherapy given to the
mother.
There is an excellent articleby Thomas Murphy Goodwin that
was published in First Thingsmagazine that I will link to in
(08:05):
the show notes.
And there is one final keydistinction of life versus
health.
Should we allow abortion for athreat to the health of the
mother?
If so, we are placing thehealth of one human being, the
mother, over the life of anotherhuman being, the child.
This seems clearly wrong.
(08:26):
There is no other circumstancein which we would allow someone
to kill an innocent person toprotect herself from a health
threat.
We don't allow those who areexposed to disease to kill those
who expose them.
When someone's health isthreatened by the existence of
another, we attempt to removethe one threatening and treat
(08:48):
the one threatened.
We can do this in the case ofthe pregnant woman whose health
is affected by her child.
We can remove the child as soonas possible for him to live and
treat the mother's condition.
Well, that is a lot of goodinformation.
You may want to listen to thisagain because I think that this
information offers great reliefto those of us who want to take
(09:11):
a firm stand to protect childrenwhile at the same time
protecting women.
And now it's time for ourstretch break.
I'm going to go off and takethe vitamins that I forgot to
take this morning until I justreminded myself with all this
talk about health, and then comeback to learn about Baby
Chris's 26th week of developmentin the womb.
Announcer (09:42):
We have answers to your questions, referrals to
specialized care like abortionpill reversal and post-abortion
recovery, current statistics andinformation, discussion
starters, and devotionals tohelp you think about and share
about pregnancy and abortion,adoption, foster care, and even
suicide, assisted suicide andend-of-life challenges.
Visit ppl.org to learn more.
Host (10:08):
And now join me for week 26 of Baby Chris's Development
in the Womb.
This week's devotional istitled Watch and Pray.
Hear the word of the Lord.
"They said to him, Lord, wewant our eyes to be opened."
Matthew 20, 23.
Thanks be to God.
At 26 weeks, our baby Chris isnow growing longer and laying on
(10:33):
more fat.
His eyes now open and close,and like most newborns, he will
be born with a wide open gaze.
Baby's eyes begin to developduring the fifth week of
pregnancy, and at four monthsgestation, their eyes are nearly
fully formed.
From 26 to 28 weeks gestation,babies keep their eyes open a
(10:55):
lot.
They can detect light shiningdirectly into the womb, such as
when the mother is sunbathing.
By the 33rd week of pregnancy,their pupils constrict and
dilate, which allows them tobetter detect light.
Many babies are born with theireyes open as soon as their head
clears the birth canal, readyto make their first eye contact
(11:16):
with mom and dad, and begintaking in information about
their new world.
Even so, it will be a few moreweeks before their visual
development is complete, andanother few months to fine-tune
things like focus, tracking,depth perception, color
distinction, and facialrecognition.
Scripture has a lot to sayabout sight.
(11:40):
The healing of physicalblindness was a messianic sign
prophesied by Isaiah andfulfilled by Jesus during his
ministry.
Jesus offered the restorationof sight to the blind in
response to John the Baptist'squestion about whether he was
the expected Messiah.
Before God gives eyes to see,humans are spiritually blind.
(12:02):
The unbelieving carnal humansuffers from spiritual blindness
sourced in Satan.
Pride, ignorance, followingblind guides, caring what others
think, and more.
The spiritually blind areunable to discern the truth of
Scripture and the truth aboutChrist.
(12:22):
Their failure to understand theinformation they take in
through their mind's eye isdistorted because of their
inability to see clearly withthe spiritual eyes of Christ.
Yet God does not leave us indarkness.
Helen Keller became blind anddeaf at the age of 19 months.
Unable to take in informationabout or communicate with the
(12:47):
outside world, she was isolatedin dark silence.
When Helen was six, her parentshired the daughter of a
Presbyterian pastor as herteacher.
After a long struggle, AnnieSullivan broke through Helen's
darkness, teaching her signlanguage and opening up her
world.
Later, in a letter to EpiscopalBishop Philip Brooks, Helen
(13:10):
described learning about Jesusfrom Annie.
He related that Helen hadalways known about God even
before she had any words.
Even before she could call Godanything, she knew God was
there.
She did not know what it was.
God had no name for her,nothing had a name for her.
(13:32):
She had no concept of a name.
But in her darkness andisolation she knew somehow she
was not alone.
Someone was with her.
She felt God's love.
And when she received the giftof language and heard about God,
she said she already knew.
(13:53):
God seeks out his sheep, thescattered, the broken, and the
lost.
God prepares us from beforebirth to begin to see our
parents' loving gaze as ourfirst sight, equips us to take
in God's power and nature andall creation with our natural
eyes, seeks us out to heal ourspiritual blindness and give us
(14:15):
the eyes to see and understandthe truth of God and God's Word,
and promises that one day weshall see Him as He is, because
we shall be like Him.
See what great love the Fatherhas lavished on us that we
should be called the children ofGod.
Hear the word of the Lord.
(14:35):
"I am the light of the world.
If you follow me, you won'thave to walk in darkness,
because you will have the lightthat leads to life.
" John chapter 8, verses 11 and12.
Thanks be to God.
Announcer (14:57):
We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection.
We encourage you to share itand join us next time on Pro
Life Kitchen Table.
May God bless you.
Welcome back to the table.
I'm your host, DeborahHollifield, and this week we're
going to have a physician helpus with the difficult medical
questions we wrestle with aboutthe issues associated with the
health and life of a pregnantwoman.
Much misinformation iscirculated that feeds into our
sense of reasonableness andcompassion and warps our
(00:44):
understanding of the truth withconfusion.
This week's essay is preparedby Dr.
Martha Leatherman, a former PPLboard member, and it's entitled
What About the Life of theMother?
There is little in the debateover abortion that galvanizes
people and brings out ourheartfelt compassion more than
the situation in which amother's life is endangered by
(01:07):
continuing a pregnancy.
As Christians, we love all thelife that God has created and
pray that the beautiful blessingof a new life will not threaten
that of the mother who carrieshim.
Presbyterians protecting lifeis committed to defending all
life from fertilization tonatural death, and that includes
the lives of pregnant women.
(01:28):
From this biblical position, wecan examine the issues
surrounding this difficult setof circumstances.
First, what is abortion?
Direct abortion is thedeliberate killing of an unborn
child.
Treatment intended to save thelife of the mother that results
in the death of the child is nota direct abortion.
(01:49):
So treatment in which the aimof the intervention is to save
the mother, but that involvesthe unavoidable death of the
unborn baby is not abortion.
What are the life-threateningconditions?
There are actually very fewtruly life-threatening
conditions that would lead evento the consideration of killing
an unborn baby.
(02:10):
And with many of these threats,we can treat the mother and
save the child.
According to Dr.
Alan Gutmacher of PlannedParenthood, today it is possible
for almost any patient to bebrought through pregnancy alive
unless she suffers from a fatalillness, such as cancer or
leukemia, and if so, abortionwould be unlikely to prolong,
(02:32):
much less save life.
A recent study out of theUnited Kingdom found that
between 1968 and 2011, only0.006% of abortions were
performed to save the life ofthe mother.
Pre-eclampsia occurs in one inapproximately every 12
(02:55):
pregnancies, 5 to 8%.
This is a condition ofswelling, elevated blood
pressure, and protein in theurine.
This condition can beeffectively treated either by
delivery after 36 weeks or bybed rest prior to 36 weeks.
Delivery can also be attemptedafter 24 weeks with reasonable
(03:16):
assurance that the fetus willlive.
In some cases, delivery priorto 24 weeks may be necessary,
although the likelihood of thechild's survival is reduced.
In all of these cases, thedoctor's attempts to deliver the
child and care for her afterbirth and are not to perform
abortion with the deliberateintention of killing the child.
(03:39):
Ecclampsia, toxemia withseizures, occurs one in
approximately 2,000 pregnancies,or 0.05%.
This condition is marked byseizures that are caused by
pregnancy as opposed to someother known factor.
Treatment is the same as forpre-eclampsia, but this
condition is more severe,usually requiring delivery
(04:02):
either naturally or byC-section.
Placental abruption occurs inone in 100 pregnancies, 1%.
The placenta detaches from theuterine wall.
If not treated, this can harmboth mother and child.
Again, abortion is not thetreatment in this case.
When the placenta has detachedfrom the uterine wall, the child
(04:25):
is already at grave risk ofdeath.
The treatment is designed toprevent further detachment from
the uterus.
In very rare cases, massivebleeding occurs when the
placenta detaches, in whichcase, if the placenta is not
surgically removed along withthe baby, both mother and baby
will die.
In such cases, the decision ismade to try to save the life of
(04:49):
the mother, understanding thatthere is a risk that the baby
will die, and that this ispreferable to both mother and
baby dying.
Distosia.
Prior to the turn of thetwentieth century, one type of
dystosia, any case of abnormalor difficult labor, when the
(05:09):
baby's head is too large to passthrough the mother's pelvis,
presented pregnant women indeveloped countries with an
agonizing choice to save herchild by undergoing a dangerous
and probably lethal cesareansection, or to save her own life
by undergoing a craniotomyoperation that crushed the
baby's skull.
(05:30):
Even today, this choice maystill be presented to some women
in developing countries whereC-sections are not routine.
The position of Presbyteriansprotecting life in such
situations is that first, thisis not an issue in the United
States or other developedcountries where the majority of
elective abortions take place,and second, that our efforts
(05:53):
should be to improve improvingmaternal care in developing
countries rather than promotingabortion.
Ectopic pregnancy.
In an ectopic pregnancy, thenewly conceived human being
implants on the wall of thefallopian tube or some other
tissue instead of on the wall ofthe uterus.
(06:14):
As the embryonic human beinggrows, the fallopian tube will
rupture, causing severe bloodloss and probably death.
In these cases, there is no wayto save the child's life.
If we do nothing, both humanbeings will die.
Because we believe it is betterto save one life than to lose
(06:34):
two.
We remove the child, whichcauses his death, and save the
mother.
The death of the child is anunintended, although foreseen,
consequence.
It should be noted that thereare some, albeit rare cases,
where a mother has successfullydelivered an ectopic pregnancy.
Placenta previa occurs one in200 pregnancies, or 0.5%.
(06:58):
The placenta covers all or partof the cervix.
Although this condition has thepotential to be
life-threatening, with propermedical management, usually bed
rest, but sometimeshospitalization, both mother and
child can be protected fromharm.
In the case of an earlyplacenta previa, sometimes the
(07:21):
baby does not survive because ofa miscarriage, but that is a
natural occurrence, not causedby deliberate abortion.
There is no moral wrong here.
This is simply a specific caseof miscarriage in which no
person causes or intends thechild's death.
Other cases.
(07:41):
In most other cases of lifeendangerment, we can treat both
the mother and the child.
For example, a pregnant womanwith cancer can be treated while
the baby tolerates thechemotherapy given to the
mother.
There is an excellent articleby Thomas Murphy Goodwin that
was published in First Thingsmagazine that I will link to in
(08:05):
the show notes.
And there is one final keydistinction of life versus
health.
Should we allow abortion for athreat to the health of the
mother?
If so, we are placing thehealth of one human being, the
mother, over the life of anotherhuman being, the child.
This seems clearly wrong.
(08:26):
There is no other circumstancein which we would allow someone
to kill an innocent person toprotect herself from a health
threat.
We don't allow those who areexposed to disease to kill those
who expose them.
When someone's health isthreatened by the existence of
another, we attempt to removethe one threatening and treat
(08:48):
the one threatened.
We can do this in the case ofthe pregnant woman whose health
is affected by her child.
We can remove the child as soonas possible for him to live and
treat the mother's condition.
Well, that is a lot of goodinformation.
You may want to listen to thisagain because I think that this
information offers great reliefto those of us who want to take
(09:11):
a firm stand to protect childrenwhile at the same time
protecting women.
And now it's time for ourstretch break.
I'm going to go off and takethe vitamins that I forgot to
take this morning until I justreminded myself with all this
talk about health, and then comeback to learn about Baby
Chris's 26th week of developmentin the womb.
Announcer (09:42):
We have answers to your questions, referrals to
specialized care like abortionpill reversal and post-abortion
recovery, current statistics andinformation, discussion
starters, and devotionals tohelp you think about and share
about pregnancy and abortion,adoption, foster care, and even
suicide, assisted suicide andend-of-life challenges.
Visit ppl.org to learn more.
Host (10:08):
And now join me for week 26 of Baby Chris's Development
in the Womb.
This week's devotional istitled Watch and Pray.
Hear the word of the Lord.
"They said to him, Lord, wewant our eyes to be opened."
Matthew 20, 23.
Thanks be to God.
At 26 weeks, our baby Chris isnow growing longer and laying on
(10:33):
more fat.
His eyes now open and close,and like most newborns, he will
be born with a wide open gaze.
Baby's eyes begin to developduring the fifth week of
pregnancy, and at four monthsgestation, their eyes are nearly
fully formed.
From 26 to 28 weeks gestation,babies keep their eyes open a
(10:55):
lot.
They can detect light shiningdirectly into the womb, such as
when the mother is sunbathing.
By the 33rd week of pregnancy,their pupils constrict and
dilate, which allows them tobetter detect light.
Many babies are born with theireyes open as soon as their head
clears the birth canal, readyto make their first eye contact
(11:16):
with mom and dad, and begintaking in information about
their new world.
Even so, it will be a few moreweeks before their visual
development is complete, andanother few months to fine-tune
things like focus, tracking,depth perception, color
distinction, and facialrecognition.
Scripture has a lot to sayabout sight.
(11:40):
The healing of physicalblindness was a messianic sign
prophesied by Isaiah andfulfilled by Jesus during his
ministry.
Jesus offered the restorationof sight to the blind in
response to John the Baptist'squestion about whether he was
the expected Messiah.
Before God gives eyes to see,humans are spiritually blind.
(12:02):
The unbelieving carnal humansuffers from spiritual blindness
sourced in Satan.
Pride, ignorance, followingblind guides, caring what others
think, and more.
The spiritually blind areunable to discern the truth of
Scripture and the truth aboutChrist.
(12:22):
Their failure to understand theinformation they take in
through their mind's eye isdistorted because of their
inability to see clearly withthe spiritual eyes of Christ.
Yet God does not leave us indarkness.
Helen Keller became blind anddeaf at the age of 19 months.
Unable to take in informationabout or communicate with the
(12:47):
outside world, she was isolatedin dark silence.
When Helen was six, her parentshired the daughter of a
Presbyterian pastor as herteacher.
After a long struggle, AnnieSullivan broke through Helen's
darkness, teaching her signlanguage and opening up her
world.
Later, in a letter to EpiscopalBishop Philip Brooks, Helen
(13:10):
described learning about Jesusfrom Annie.
He related that Helen hadalways known about God even
before she had any words.
Even before she could call Godanything, she knew God was
there.
She did not know what it was.
God had no name for her,nothing had a name for her.
(13:32):
She had no concept of a name.
But in her darkness andisolation she knew somehow she
was not alone.
Someone was with her.
She felt God's love.
And when she received the giftof language and heard about God,
she said she already knew.
(13:53):
God seeks out his sheep, thescattered, the broken, and the
lost.
God prepares us from beforebirth to begin to see our
parents' loving gaze as ourfirst sight, equips us to take
in God's power and nature andall creation with our natural
eyes, seeks us out to heal ourspiritual blindness and give us
(14:15):
the eyes to see and understandthe truth of God and God's Word,
and promises that one day weshall see Him as He is, because
we shall be like Him.
See what great love the Fatherhas lavished on us that we
should be called the children ofGod.
Hear the word of the Lord.
(14:35):
"I am the light of the world.
If you follow me, you won'thave to walk in darkness,
because you will have the lightthat leads to life.
" John chapter 8, verses 11 and12.
Thanks be to God.
Announcer (14:57):
We hope you enjoyed this week's reflection.
We encourage you to share itand join us next time on Pro
Life Kitchen Table.
May God bless you.
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