Catholic Physicians\u27 Guild

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 6 | Number 4 Article 7October 1938How to Reduce Maternal Death RateCatholic Physicians' GuildFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationCatholic Physicians' Guild (1938) "How to Reduce Maternal Death Rate," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 6 : No. 4 , Article 7.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol6/iss4/7THE LINACRE QUARTERLY you never seen His power of heal-ing at work when you, His earthly assistant, had done all that medi-cal art could suggest, and the pa-tient by all laws of your science was doomed to die? Oh ! You phy-sicians of our bodily ills, have you not discovered that all these things we think of as evils-pain, disease, and death-are but bodily symptoms of the one great evil which is sin? Have you not dis-covered that a rebel human will is the only discordant note in all the grand symphony of creation's cult of God? You merely mend the physical punishments of sin, but doing that, God has put it in your heal-ing hands, by kindness and coun-sel to lead God's erring sons and daughters back to His love and peace and health of soul. We must all, doctors, priests and lay people, heed the "Sursum Corda" of our glorious Catholic faith. "Lift up your hearts ! Lift up your minds !" "Lift them up out of the dreary lowlands of earth. Dwell on the mountain tops with the God of transforming grace." Catholic doctors are called by God, ordained by God, we might well say. Your call is not to a mere profession; not to a lowly avocation. It is a ministry of healing both body and soul. And in your work God is with you. He is the Divine Doctor, the Chief Surgeon. He has fashioned clay into bone and nerve and tissue. He has breathed into dust the breath of life. Wherever you can help these laws of birth and health and life to serve God's benign pur-pose better, there is your call to duty. But when by your knowl-edge and skill you have done your utmost as servants to nature's laws, and the crisis still endures, then stand aside. Pray! Make way for nature's God! The Chief Physician has taken charge! How to Reduce Maternal Death Rate A great part of the national maternal death rate of 7 per 1,000 is the result of induced abortions, one-fourth of the fatalities being thus attributable. The contracep-tionists say that their desire is to space childbirths in order to re-duce family and maternal hard-ships. The woman who uses con-traceptives is the one to resort to abortion when her method fails. On the other hand, the woman who feels justified in using the - safe period is of a different type. She disdains to do anything to which. her conscience and her re-ligious teachings are opposed. Sometimes, under stress of cir-cumstances, the rule is forgotten and pregnancy may occur. She accepts the situation with as good grace as she can, but the idea of terminating pregnancy is too hor-rible for her to contemplate. The result is that the children of her family are spaced so as not to be burdensome and the end is accom-plished which birth controllers state is their purpose, but which is never attained by their follow-ers, who are, first, contraception-ists and, if failing, abortionists. [ 98 ] 

How to Reduce Maternal Death Rate

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How to Reduce Maternal Death Rate

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