nine-year-old's twins aborted

I've read or skimmed a zillion different takes on this story. It sounds like a Brazilian man sexually abused his stepdaughter for three years, and when she was nine she became pregnant with his twins, which were aborted. Following this, there was great confusion about excommunication.

As I understand it, there's a latae sententiae for abortion or assisting with an abortion--this means if you do it, you're automatically excommunicated.

Time for a lesson on excommunication.

Few church leaders like the idea of being dropped in the sea with a millstone around their necks (cf Mt. 18:6), and they realize how important it is to teach correctly.

An excommunication essentially says "Do not listen to this person and think that's what the Catholic Church teaches." It does not send you to hell--no mere human, not even the pope, has the authority or power to do such a think. It is not permanent--with proper repentence, you can again become part of the Church.

Most of teaching is by example, and when there is a particularly bad example, it's important to let people know that this is not what the church teaches.

So if you have an abortion or help someone get an abortion, you are automatically no longer a part of the church.

Now, let's look at the situation.

It is morally wrong to rape your 9-year-old stepdaughter. In the first place, the situation shouldn't have even come about (that's gignomai for you deponent Greeks).

But it did. In Brazil, the articles say, abortion is only allowed in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger. The girl was definitely raped, and the abortion was legal. But was her life in danger?

I was unimpressed with Time magazine. The article reads:

The case has caused a furor. Abortion is illegal in Brazil except in cases of rape or when the mother's life is in danger, both of which apply in this case. (The girl's immature hips would have made labor dangerous; the Catholic opinion was that she could have had a cesarean section.)

The reporter assumes that the girl's life is in danger but does not tell the reader where the information came from. Did the reporter talk to a doctor? Then he writes what the "Catholic opinion" was, again without a source. Did he talk to a doctor and find out if a c-section might be possible?

I don't remember reading a doctor's voice on the c-section possibility in any of the articles I read, just what church leaders said. I'm sure these church leaders are wonderful men and intelligent theologians, but they are theologians, not physicians. I want to know what a physician has to say, and so far, no one has told me.

So what's the morally right thing to do?

Abortion is wrong, and this abortion was wrong, even if the girl's life was at stake. But I don't think she's culpable.

First: We don't know for sure that she would have died. It's not okay to kill two people because you're almost entirely sure it will save the life of another person.

Second: Love is willing to give its life for another (John 15:13). It would have taken a tremendous amount of courage and heroism to do this, though--can we expect this from an abused 9-year-old?

Third: I don't think she's culpable. I don't think it's right to "blame her" because she can't have had a mature understanding of what was going on.

Still waiting on that physician.