Operation during an ectopic pregnancy is not a sin?translated

Reader's Question:

Greetings! I work as an operating room nurse and am very grateful to God for my job, but I am deeply troubled by having to participate in operations during ectopic pregnancies. I have read that a doctor performing an abortion (and other medical personnel involved in this process) is considered a murderer or an accomplice to a crime. Can you advise: Is participation in an operation during an ectopic pregnancy considered a sin? Is it sinful to take part in such an operation?

Ksenia

Father's Response:

Father Victor NIKISHOV

May God bless you!

No, participating in an operation during an ectopic pregnancy is not a sin and does not equate to being an accomplice to murder. In fact, surgical intervention in such cases is an act of saving the mother’s life when the child has already died or is doomed to die.

In the case of a normal abortion (so-called "artificial termination of pregnancy"), we are dealing with the intentional killing of a completely healthy and viable human embryo that is in its designated place — the uterus. This is why the Church unequivocally calls such an abortion a grave sin of infanticide, and this guilt falls not only on the mother who made the decision but also on the doctor performing it…