David Ancell / Friday February 07, 2003
Pete Vere posts a very real concern on the penalty of excommunication for procuring an abortion. I wonder if they penalty should be applied only to those who were involved other than the woman. People who pressure a woman into abortion and doctors who perform them ought to be excommunicated for having directly advocated murder.
Of course, I really wish the Church would excommunicate politicians and others who publicly advocate abortion rights. The scandal is unspeakable, and yet they get away with it. I’m scandalized by the fact that they get away with the scandal.
Someone asked why abortion but not other murders incur the penalty of excommunication. Here is what I said in the comments (both concerning this question and Vere’s post):
Hmmm . . . I always thought that emotional distress would, in most cases, cause the penalty of excommunication not to apply.
In any event, my understanding of why murder doesn’t carry a canonical penalty is that there are normally very severe criminal penalties for murder. Because of this, almost anyone will understand the severity of murder.
However, abortion often goes unpunished by civil authorities and therefore the seriousness of the sin may not be recognized. Therefore, the canonical penalty is necessary.
In fact, few serious crimes carry a penalty of excommunication. Many of the things that do are such things as desecration of the Eucharist. This might carry only a minor vandalism charge in the United States, but it carries the penalty of excommunication reserved to the Holy See.
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