[LuciaMia]

And the stepfather? No mention if he was excommunicated.

[svcw]

Good point.

[GovernmentShrinker]

You noticed that too, eh?

[vladimir998]

You wrote:

“And the stepfather? No mention if he was excommunicated.”

What he did was a mortal sin but is not one of the reasons for excommunication. Murder of babies in the womb is, however.

[GCC Catholic]

And the stepfather? No mention if he was excommunicated.

Ironically, perhaps he isn't excommunicated. That said, the punishment for opposing Divine Law is far worse.

An excommunication is punishment that seeks to foster repentance. The hope is that all involved in this will repent of their wrongdoing.

[Campion]

The stepfather is in a state of objectively grave sin, and is also not permitted to approach the Eucharist according to Catholic teaching. It's not the same as a formal excommunication, but the effects are largely the same.

The reason for the difference in penalty is that society generally (we think!) understands that child molestation, rape, murder, massive theft, etc., are heinous and abominable crimes. And -- typically -- the civil law makes that clear also.

The same cannot be said of abortion, so the church attaches extra penalties to it to make its intense disapproval clear.