Replies

yes, I agree, have you signed the petition???

You can't be Catholic and Pro Abortion

http://www.nccbuscc.org/prolife/gospel.htm

Sign Petition to Excommunicate Ted Kennedy, Tom Daschle, etc.

http://www.cathfam.org/cfexcom/Excom.html

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200107/CUL20010717b.html

http://www.nrlc.org/Federal/Scorecard/index.html

http://capwiz.com/nrlc/election/

http://www.dailycatholic.org/issue/2001Apr/2001hh.htm

http://www.nrlc.org/Federal/Scorecard/

107th Congress 2001-2002

http://capwiz.com/nrlc/scorecard/?chamber=H&session=107&x=13&y=8

106th Congress 1999-2000

http://capwiz.com/nrlc/scorecard/?chamber=H&session=106&x=13&y=18

105 Congress 1997-1998

http://capwiz.com/nrlc/scorecard/?chamber=H&session=105&x=17&y=12

House of Representatives

http://www.dailycatholic.org/house.htm

Senate

http://www.dailycatholic.org/hhsengov.htm

http://www.nrlc.org/Federal/Scorecard/index.html

http://www.nrlc.org/Federal/Scorecard/senatescores.html

106th Congress 1999-2000

http://capwiz.com/nrlc/scorecard/?chamber=S&session=106&x=17&y=17

105th Congress, 1997-1998

http://capwiz.com/nrlc/scorecard/?chamber=S&session=105&x=18&y=14

Massachusetts

Kennedy, E. (D) 0%

Kerry, J. (D) 0%

South Dakota

Daschle (D) 11%

Johnson, T. (D) 11%

Can. 1398 -- A person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication.

The Latin original reads: Can. 1398 -- Qui abortum procurat, effectu secuto, in excommunicationem latae sententiae incurrit.

An excommunication is the heaviest spiritual sanction the Church can render. So long as it is in force, it bars the excommunicated person from the church community and from receiving most of the sacraments, as well as from all public associations affiliated with the Church. An automatic (or "latae sententiae") excommunication is an especially severe penalty. The nine or so latae sententiae excommunications in the Code are reserved for use against certain things the Church particularly wants to deter, like assaulting the pope (can.1370) and priests divulging matters heard in the confessional (can.1388). Most excommunications can only follow a tribunal trial (can. 1425, §1, 2°). But latae sententiae penalties operate like a bill of attainder in that there is no "process" for their imposition--the fact that the person voluntarily performed the proscribed act, in the absence of some exception provided in the law, means the penalty is incurred. An excommunication can usually be lifted by the local bishop (the "local ordinary") and sometimes by a priest during confession (can. 1354-1357).

The 1917 Code had a similar provision:

Canon 2350, §1 -- Persons who procure abortion, mothers not excepted, automatically incur excommunication reserved to the Ordinary at the moment the crime takes effect: if they are clerics, they shall also be deposed.

Though it is clear enough the Church has always regarded abortion as a serious sin, it was not always accorded a penal sanction in Canon Law equal to that given homicide (nor is it now, see can.1397, supra).

The first papal canon, Effraenatam, that universally imposed a penal penalty of excommunication for abortion was issued by Sixtus V in 1588. It applied to all abortions and was reserved to the Holy See. In 1591, the law was modified by Gregory XIV so that the penalty would not apply when a fetus was not "animated" or "ensouled" under the Aristo-Aquinan theory of when human life begins (not before 40 days) and gave the local bishops control of these cases. This was motivated, at least in part, by the sheer volume of litigation the law had produced ("reserved to the Holy See" meant that each case had to be taken to Rome for the excommunication to be lifted). In 1869, Pius IX rescinded the animation exception. The canons of the 1917 and 1983 Codes apply to all direct abortions. Abortions incident to otherwise lawful medical care that is required to save the life of the mother (e.g. chemotherapy, hysterectomy of a cancerous uterus) are given an interpretive exception from the rule under the priciple of "double effect."

As in all penal laws there are qualifications as to who is subject to a law--Canon 1321, and following, of the 1983 Code makes such provisions.

Irregularity

From the earliest days of the Church, men who had shed human blood, no matter how justifiable or blameless the act may have been, were excluded from entering the priesthood (e.g., Decretum Gratiani by Pope Innocent I in the year 404). This traditionally embraced abortion as a form of homicide. However, in 1211, Pope Innocent III issued the decree Sicut ex, which limited the irregularity incurred from abortion to abortions involving a fetus that was not "animated" or "ensouled." This exception was subsequently abrogated as both of the modern codes have provisions that apply to all abortions (can. 985, §4 in the 1917 Code, and can.1041, 4° in the 1983 Code).