Excommunication awaits Catholic abortion supporters, church warns

Excommunication awaits Catholics who support or engage in abortion, even if it becomes partially legalized in the Philippines, a senior Catholic Church official warned. Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop and Canon Law expert Oscar Cruz said abortion is considered a mortal sin and Catholics who take part or support abortions will be penalized with excommunication. Excommunication is a form of religious censure used to deprive or suspend membership in a religious community. The word implies "putting someone out of communion." “Excommunication means that the person concerned is separated from the spiritual benefits enjoyed by all members of the Church. Furthermore, the same person could not take communion," Cruz said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. Citing Canon Law, he said anyone who procures abortion incurs an automatic excommunication, meaning there is no need for an official decree from church authorities. He said there are only two sins whereby the penalty of excommunication is involved – abortion and physically hurting the Pope. Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez added abortion is a “crime" in the eyes of the Church and there is no way they will allow it. Gutierrez said a person cannot respond to a tragedy with another tragedy. The bishop said that abortion is the wrong answer to a problem and should be avoided in every way. “Abortion is murder. It kills deliberately the fetus, a human person who has the inviolable right to live. Abortion is a moral sin," he said. Last week, women’s groups called for the legalization of abortion, especially if pregnancy threatens the life of the mother or if the pregnancy stemmed from rape or incest. Melissa Upreti, legal adviser to the New York-based Centre for Reproductive Rights, said the Philippines should amend the penal code to legalize abortion under these two conditions. “The government has a binding legal obligation to recognize, protect and promote rights of women that are being violated by the criminal ban on abortion," she said. The Philippines, a predominantly Catholic country with an estimated 90 million people, bans all forms of abortion under any circumstances. Citing results of a study it conducted, the group said some 560,000 Filipino women turn to illegal and unsafe abortions yearly, including inserting catheters into the uterus and ingesting herbs or other concoctions sold in the streets. The study showed that about 90,000 of those women suffer from complications and about 1,000 die every year. Florence Macagba Tadiar, a medical doctor who heads the Institute For Social Studies and Action, expressed hope the government of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III will be open to this. Lawyer Clara Rita Padilla, executive director of EnGendeRights Inc, claimed that the ban is ineffective in preventing women from terminating unwanted pregnancies. –VVP, GMANews.TV