The Catholic Physicians Guild of Phoenix has voiced their support of Bishop Thomas J. Olmstead’s decision on the excommunication of a nun who was involved in the decision to carry out an abortion.

Olmstead, a hard-line bishop, has been in the media since his decision to excommunicate a nun, Sister Margaret Mary McBride, after approved an abortion to save a pregnant woman’s life.

William H. Brophy, president of the Catholic Physicians Guild of Phoenix said the group “stands by the church's teaching that is guided by the Holy Spirit in ordering life toward truth and love.

“An action which is in and of itself wrong, in that it lacks goodness as discerned by the light of human reason, is never justified by circumstances or intended end. Such is the case of abortion. A medical procedure, where the direct intention is the termination of pregnancy, is an abortion.

“Medical treatments are appropriate for the direct purpose of curing a proportionately pathological condition of a pregnant woman, when they cannot be safely postponed until the unborn child is viable. When an unborn child attains viability, labor may be induced.”

In late 2009 Sister Margaret Mary McBride was vice president of mission integration and a member of the hospital ethics committee. The committee agreed that an abortion was the best course of action with regard to the saving the mother’s life.  Sister Margaret was assigned new duties following her decision.

The hospital defended the decision to go ahead with the abortion but Bishop Olmstead warned that any Catholics who formally cooperated in the abortion would be automatically excommunicated.