"Regarding the line to be drawn between valid and invalid medical circumstances , I suspect it is best left to the physician 's who encounter and are familiar with the various causes for concern . I personally know quite little about them . The ones I would categorize as valid would be those that threaten the continued healthy life of the mother in such a way as to include the possibility of her being unable to function as a mother and caretaker of not only the expected child but those she may already be tending . Reduced to a short sentence , the line should be drawn under the doctor 's signature ."
"You have a good point about the imporance of the mother being healthy enough to take care of the other children . So often , this debate is phrased in terms of the mother 's rights vs those of the fetus , but we often forget ( including myself ) that other people can also be deeply affected by abortion decisions - including the family which might lose a mother . I would also generally agree that the doctor can often best say what type of health risk exists . Even there , though , the doctor him/herself would have to have some level of judgement about what level of risk is `` acceptable `` and what is n't . Ultimately , someone has to make that decision . Part of the goal of this thread was to discuss what type of risks are acceptable and what are n't ."
"those that threaten the continued healthy life of the mother in such a way as to include the possibility of her being unable to function as a mother and caretaker of not only the expected child"
"You have a good point about the imporance of the mother being healthy enough to take care of the other children"