Given the doctrine of orginal sin, there really is no such thing as innocent. Unless one is innocent up until one is actual born.

But I love how "HE" is an innocent baby. Clearly that 11 year old girl is a dirty whore. Perhaps for the Archbishop original sin only applies to women.

Unfortunately, this isn't even the Archbishop's decision. This was mandated by Canon law.

On the bright side, this may cause more people to leave the Church, which in turn may help them acquire a more rational perspective on life.

I'm sure the Archbishop would have sworn to help take care of the baby and to give it a decent life too......

the child should not have to pay for the sins of another

Like, the 'sins' of the rapist perhaps? And having to carry a baby at the age of 11?! Wow.

If you think that this is bad, consider the fact that the Church proudly pointed to a 9-year-old girl in El Salvador who gave birth after being raped.

Why wouldn't they point proudly? They've saved a life!

The pro-life missionary trip that Alon links to is actually scary. For some reason the logic of 'population control' by crazy hedonists justifies making a 9 year old carry a baby.

One girl was 12 years old and eight months pregnant but so dignified because of the love she received.

What ever happened to being 12 and playing with cars/dolls/worms... rather than playing with your life?

This includes the girl’s parents, the doctors, nurses, judges and politicians who were involved in the decision.

Not surprisingly, you know who didn't get excommunicated? The rapist.

Btw, thanks to Matt for the link!!

I realize this is just sort of academic at this point, but what the heck.

Did the girl get excommunicated also, or just those who helped her? She apparently didn't have to be excommunicated, but they did.

Canon 1398 provides that, "a person who procures a successful abortion incurs an automatic (latae sententiae) excommunication." This means that at the very moment that the abortion is successfully accomplished, the woman and all formal conspirators are excommunicated.

To actually incur the excommunication one must know that it is an excommunicable offense at the time of the abortion. Canon 1323 provides that the following do not incur a sanction, those who are not yet 16, are unaware of a law, do not advert to it or are in error about its scope, were forced or had an unforeseeable accident, acted out of grave fear, or who lacked the use of reason.

It apparently does not have to be permanent.

"The Church makes every effort to make Penance available and obliges priests to make anonymity possible as well (c. 964)."

I just got curious after reading Zed's post.

So something about this story made my BS meter go off. I went online and can't confirm it anywhere except a pro-life website. There is no such thing as "The Columbian Catholic Church," and they don't name the people who were excommunicated. This looks like a hypothetical based on the current policies of the Church and the nation rather than something that actually happened.

The Cardinal denied the report. I found a story on (among others) sfgate.com. I found a quote that was used in the report to have been attributed to the Cardinal months ago. Here is the link to the story.

The "Colombian Catholic Church" is just the Roman Catholic Church in Colombia.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2006/08/30/international/i174741D15.DTL