Given the inestimable human dignity of the anencephalic child, the uterine environment in which he or she lives is not useless since it is supporting nothing other than a fully human individual. The statement makes it clear that any morally acceptable procedure that indirectly results in the death of the anencephalic child must be a direct treatment of a life-threatening maternal pathology, which, it should also be mentioned, puts the life of the child at risk as well. The NCCB statement provides an answer to the long-standing question of whether the alleviation of a mother's emotional anguish and trauma that is sometimes associated with this sort of pregnancy is itself a proportionate reason for terminating the life of an anencephalic infant. The NCCB statement shows that the psychological state of the mother does not qualify as a proportionate reason for terminating the life of the infant by inducing labor either before or after viability. The mother who carries to term a child who will soon die deserves our every possible support.
Parents can benefit from bereavement programs or psychological counseling.
Catholic health care institutions would do well to offer these services to parents of anencephalic children. Bringing the pregnancy to term, allowing optimal opportunity for baptism, and the opportunity for the mother and father to be with the child are all important steps toward bringing closure to the ordeal of the parents. The statement explains that the moral obligations regarding postnatal care for the anencephalic infant are the same as those for any patient whose death is imminent. This failing life need not be further troubled by using extraordinary means to prolong it. Second, the child must be certainly dead before any organs may be taken for transplantation.