Under the natural law position described, abortion to save the mother’s life is:

• A. Impermissible
• B. Permissible if the mother’s life is at risk
• C. Required by many physicians
• D. Encouraged as a moral duty

Answer: (A)

Natural law ethics holds that human life has intrinsic value from conception, and intentionally killing an innocent person is never morally permissible. Abortion aimed specifically at saving the mother’s life directly terminates the fetus, which the theory treats as a human life with a right to exist, so this is not allowed. The moral path is to seek means to save the mother without directly ending the fetus’s life, even though the fetus might die as an unintended side effect of treating the mother’s condition. Some natural-law frameworks allow that unintended death as a side effect, but they forbid the act of abortion itself. Hence, abortion to save the mother’s life is impermissible.