Dear Teresa:

Canon Law 1398 states: "A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae excommunication."

To be excommunicated automatically or by imposition of the Church means that the person is no longer in communion with the Church. As such, the person is barred from receiving the Sacraments. Excommunication only happens when one commits a profoundly serious sin (crime). Thus, if one does not bring this sin to the Sacrament of Confession the sin remains on the soul of the person. If they die with mortal sin on their soul, they are eternally separated from God by their own choice.

There is, however, the principle of diminished capacity (or imputability). In order for a grave sin to be counted as mortal the person must have full knowledge that the act is sin and unimpaired and free consent to commit the sin. If their will is impaired then the penalty for the sin may be reduced or even nullified.

The types of situations that mitigate the mortalness of the sin due to diminished capacity include committing the sin out of duress, being forced to commit the sin, extreme fear, mental illness, etc.

Thus, a woman who has an abortion when she is under profoundly severe duress and pressure from her husband or boyfriend, or her circumstances (such as being homeless), or is mentally ill may be impaired to a such a degree that her ability to freely consent is not possible. In such a case, her culpability may be reduced or even nullified.

The Catechism mentions this principle (bold is my emphasis):

1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God's law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.

1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. The promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.

1735 Imputability and responsibility for an action can be diminished or even nullified by ignorance, inadvertence, duress, fear, habit, inordinate attachments, and other psychological or social factors.

Then the Catechism applies this principle to a few specific examples:

With Atheism:
2125 Since it rejects or denies the existence of God, atheism is a sin against the virtue of religion. The imputability of this offense can be significantly diminished in virtue of the intentions and the circumstances. "Believers can have more than a little to do with the rise of atheism. To the extent that they are careless about their instruction in the faith, or present its teaching falsely, or even fail in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than to reveal the true nature of God and of religion."

With Masturbation:
2352b To form an equitable judgment about the subjects' moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability.

With Prostitution:
2355 Prostitution does injury to the dignity of the person who engages in it, reducing the person to an instrument of sexual pleasure. The one who pays sins gravely against himself: he violates the chastity to which his Baptism pledged him and defiles his body, the temple of the Holy Spirit. Prostitution is a social scourge. It usually involves women, but also men, children, and adolescents (The latter two cases involve the added sin of scandal.). While it is always gravely sinful to engage in prostitution, the imputability of the offense can be attenuated by destitution, blackmail, or social pressure.

This principle "diminished imputability" can apply with many difference sins, including abortion.

However, for the most part we cannot know where the lines are drawn between full imputability and diminished imputability. We certainly cannot make that judgment about ourselves.

All this refers to whether the woman would go to hell if she did not go to Confession. Even if she was forced to have an abortion or some other reason diminished her imputability for the act, that is no excuse for not bringing this to the Sacrament of Confession.

Regardless of the woman's culpability as to her soul (this applies to her accomplices, too), she is technically excommunicated by the act itself. Thus, confession is required to regain communion with the Church. While mental illness may prevent her from attending Confession for the rest of her life, what would be the excuse for anyone else? It is pride that keeps people from Confession. Nevertheless, it is God who knows the details and will judge her imputability not only for the act of abortion, but also for her refusal to seek Reconciliation. Thus, we cannot know her eternal destiny, as we cannot know anyone else's.

Since diminished imputability cannot really be known for sure in this life, we need to do what the Church teaches -- that we are to bring to the Sacrament of Confession any and all known grave sins.

And in this case of automatic excommunication (which means it is automatic upon the commission of the act without regard to judgments of imputability), the whole issue may be resolved by simply seeking Confession and thereby reconciling with the Church and with God.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary