CatholicVote, one of the country’s largest political advocacy groups, has called for Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says certain “particularly grave sins” can incur the church’s most severe ecclesiastical penalty. Healey — a baptized Catholic — appears to be the ideal candidate after signing an atrocious abortion law.
On Aug. 10, Healey signed a bill that permits physicians to perform late-term abortions up until birth if, in their sole discretion, they deem killing a full-term child who can survive outside the womb “medically necessary.”
In a statement issued shortly before the act became law, Catholic bishops in Massachusetts called it “a radical measure which is gravely immoral.” Former Planned Parenthood director turned pro-life advocate and Catholic convert Abby Johnson called Healey’s act “barbaric.”
The Massachusetts government website claims the “new law ensures patients facing serious pregnancy complications can receive medically appropriate care from trusted providers.” This is simply not true because the new law doesn’t merely strengthen or clarify anything. As a lawyer, Healey certainly knows the language of the statute, with its total lack of restraints, opens the door wide for just about any reason to abort a child a doctor can come up with, including the mother’s feelings.
The previous Massachusetts abortion law permitted late-term abortions to preserve a patient’s life, for physical and mental health reasons, or for lethal or severe fetal abnormalities. Pro-life doctors have publicly testified that abortion is essentially never medically necessary in such circumstances. But Healey and her cronies claimed allowing abortions of babies up to six months old in the womb wasn’t “accessible” far enough. Today, cats have far more protection in Massachusetts than unborn humans.
Healey proudly identifies as a Catholic. After securing a private audience with Pope Francis in 2024, she said: “As a Catholic, I think about what we were taught about making sure that we look after those around us — that we pay particular attention to those who are the most vulnerable among us.” Is there anyone more vulnerable than a child in a mother’s womb?
Healey nevertheless went on to defend her position on abortion, stating: “To me, it doesn’t make me any less of a Catholic or detract from my relationship to the faith.”
Any conscientious Catholic would beg to differ. Throughout its entire history, the Catholic Church has maintained that abortion is a grave sin. Section 2271 of its catechism states: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. The teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
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