Miller on Excommunication

Over at First Things, Villanova law prof Robert Miller criticizes the Vatican for the conflicting signals sent out regarding the excommunication of Catholic politicians who voted to legalize first-trimester abortions in Mexico.  Here's an excerpt:

The Church’s reluctance to speak straightforwardly about whether Catholic politicians incur an excommunication latae sententiae for their actions related to abortion legislation seems to derive from a desire to avoid embroiling the Church further in the bitter controversies about abortion. If so, such considerations are misguided. The Church has embodied in canon 1398 her judgment that procuring an abortion is a crime so serious that it warrants the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae. If the Church has changed her mind about that, then canon 1398 should be amended accordingly.

Assuming, however, that procuring an abortion is as gravely wrong as the canon implies, then the Church should stand by this judgment. If I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you will have saved your life. (Ezek. 3:18–19). Hence, when Catholic politicians violate the canon, the Church should declare openly that they have incurred the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae. The pope, of all people, must be straightforward about the truth of the Gospel (Gal. 2:14).