So the Church has come out and said that "Murder via abortion (and supporting lawmakers who endorse this) is okay as long as your moral compass is so whacked that taxes or civil issues are more important to you than murder and are therefore a more dangerous social issue to address?"
That's pretty screwed up logic on their part. If you hold as doctrine that abortion = evil as the Church does, and it is so vile and unforgiveable that you are to be excommunicated for it but not for confessing to the murder of your fellow living and breathing man... how can endorsement of any abortion friendly candidate possibly stand?
It's more of an issue of mercy on the part of the Church to those with a whacked moral compass. The Church tries to avoid excommunicating because of the seriousness of excommunication and the usual involved steps an individual needs to take to have an excommunication lifted. In essence, the Church tries to avoid excommunicating someone unless the individual knows that their actions will incur excommunication. Also, taxes and civil issues are not usually considered to be of gravity to the issue of abortion. Other moral issues, such as homosexual marriage, or justice to the poor and oppressed are usually considered to have to come into play in some practical manner.
By the way, because abortion is so predominant in our society confessing to having assisted in procuring an abortion lifts the excommunication, just as confessing to murder of one's fellow man forgives the sin.
Let's briefly address what an excommunication is. Being excommunicated is not simply a declaration of "oh, you did something bad, you're excommunicated." Being excommunicated is something extremely grave and serious. Being excommunicated is being cut off from the life of the Church, and by being cut of from the life of the Church that means being cut off from the means of salvation. In the eyes of the Church, this is an extremely serious matter. For that reason, the Church tries to avoid excommunicating it's members unless an individual has done something extremely heinous with deliberation and intent to do such a heinous act. The Church does not want to cut off it's members from their means of salvation unless they commit such a heinous act with such deliberation and intent that they are seen to be directly intending to oppose the Church's position on some moral or doctrinal matter. For this reason the Church tries everything in it's power to avoid excommunicating it's members, preferring instead to treat them with love and mercy in the hope that they will seek forgiveness and return to Christ and the Church.
Remember, the Church is not meant to be a machine of condemnation, but a community of love and forgiveness whose purpose is to bring the sinner back to Christ.
