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A Catholic advocacy group made headlines last week, as it called for the excommunication of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. The governor signed legislation this month giving physicians legal latitude to perform late term abortions in the state.
But while the call for excommunication has gained attention, it seems unlikely to gain any traction with the Archdiocese of Boston, where Healey lives, or the Diocese of Springfield, the locale of Massachusetts’ state capital.
Why not?
The Pillar explains.
What happened?
On August 10, Healey, a Catholic, signed into law the Prioritizing Patient Access to Care Act, which would allow doctors to supersede the states’ prohibition on abortion beyond 24 weeks of gestation, when doctors judged the later-term abortion to be medically necessary.
While the advocacy group Reproductive Equity Now said the measure would allow doctors to “prioritize health, safety, and compassion in the most challenging circumstances,” the Catholic bishops of Massachusetts disagreed, saying that the law was “a radical measure which is gravely immoral.”
After the letter was signed, advocacy group CatholicVote released a statement arguing that Healey had incurred an excommunication, because the governor had “legislatively cooperated in
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