On what basis does the Catholic Church oppose penalisation of women guilty of abortion?
Upvote:1
An abortive mother is subject to penalties according to the Catholic Church…
"All persons are bound to seek the truth in those things which regard God and His Church and by virtue of divine law are bound by the obligation and possess the right of embracing and observing the truth which they have come to know.” Can. 748 §1. This Cannon requires all persons to seek the truth in advance concerning abortion. Ignorance of the law is no excuse to lessen or excuse the crime or its resulting punishments.
“A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication”. Can. 1398 The abortive mother and her accomplices certainly do receive latae sententiae excommunication
“As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights”. - CCC 2273
Upvote:3
Of course the abortive mother should be prosecuted by civil law...
As a consequence of the respect and protection which must be ensured for the unborn child from the moment of conception, the law must provide appropriate penal sanctions for every deliberate violation of the child's rights. - CCC 2273
To not punish the abortive mother is to treat murder as not worthy of punishment and will lead to the end of civilization eventually.
Upvote:5
Canon Law already punishes Catholics involved in abortion with automatic (latæ sententiæ) excommunication:
Can. 1398 A person who procures a completed abortion incurs a latæ sententiæ excommunication.
This includes all Catholics involved: the woman, her family, the abortionist, assisting nurses and doctors, and even those on medical ethics boards who approve of the direct killing of the unborn (cf. the 2010 case of the excommunication of Sr. Margaret McBride).
cf. canonist Dom Augustine's commentary on those who perform abortion.
The question the Polish bishops are dealing with is whether those involved in abortion should be penalized by civil authorities. When Church and State were not so separated as today, Catholics guilty of a crime could choose whether to be tried in an ecclesiastical court or a civil court. Perhaps the Polish bishops believe Catholic women who procure abortions do not need to be tried twice when the Church has already judged and punished them with excommunication. Non-Catholics cannot be tried in ecclesiastical courts because the Church only has jurisdiction over Catholics. Thus the question becomes: Can Church authorities tell civil authorities how to punish non-Catholics involved in abortion?
This is related to the question St. Thomas Aquinas addresses in the Treatise on Law of his Summa Theologica I-II q. 96 a. 2: "Does it belong to the human law to repress [as with punishment or coercion] all vices [e.g., abortion]?." He answers (c.):
[H]uman law is framed for a number of human beings, the majority of whom are not perfect in virtue. Wherefore human laws do not forbid all vices, from which the virtuous abstain, but only the more grievous vices, from which it is possible for the majority to abstain; and chiefly those that are to the hurt of others, without the prohibition of which human society could not be maintained: thus human law prohibits murder [e.g., abortion], theft and such like.
Thus, human law should repress abortion. Exactly how it should be repressed inside the civil sphere is outside the jurisdiction of leaders of the Church and must be left to the prudence of civil authorities (cf. St. Thomas's Summa II-II q. 67 a. 1 question "Can a man justly judge one who is not subject to his jurisdiction?").
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