Beatissime Pater,--Episcopus Sinaloen. ad pedes S.V. provolutus, humiliter petit resolutionem insequentium dubiorum:
I. Eritne licita partus acceleratio quoties ex mulieris arctitudine impossibilis evaderet foetus egressio suo naturali tempore?
II. Et si mulieris arctitudo talis sit, ut neque partus praematurus possibilis censeatur, licibitne abortum provocare aut caesaream suo tempore perficere operationem? . . .
In Congregatione habita, etc. . . . EE. ac RR. Patres rescribendum censuerunt:
Ad I. Partus accelerationem per se illicitam non esse, dummodo perficiatur justis de causis et eo tempore ac modis, quibus ex ordinariis contingentibus matris et foetus vitae consulatur.
Ad II. Quoad primam partem, _negative_, juxta decretum Feria iv, 24 Julii, 1895, de abortus illiceitate. Ad secundum vero quod spectat; nihil obstare quominus mulier de qua agitur caesareae operationi suo tempore subjiciatur. . . .
In sequenti Feria vi, die 6 ejusdem mensis et anni . . . SSmus responsiones EE. ac RR. Patrum approbavit.
Pyelonephritis (an inflammation of the kidney where pus is present), from the pressure of the pregnant uterus, is a condition which sometimes obliges the physician to bring about premature labour to save the mother. The symptoms usually appear in the latter half of gestation.
Chorea ("St. Vitus' Dance"), when it develops during pregnancy, has a maternal mortality of from 17 to 22 per centum. It may cause death before the child is viable, and to empty { 52} the uterus will stop the symptoms. Here the decrees of the Holy Office will occasionally prevent the Catholic physician from interfering.
If a grave surgical operation is imperatively indicated during pregnancy, and may not be put off until after delivery, it should be undertaken in many cases, because modern technique commonly does not bring about an abortion; but, in general, no rule can be given--each case must be judged separately.
If a pregnant woman has at the same time considerable albumen in her urine and a low excretion of urea, her condition is very dangerous. To empty her uterus will, in most cases, relieve the renal trouble, but in any case premature labour is not to be induced rashly: many women escape, when by all the rules they should die.