In all cases of voluntary omission , whether due to non-choice or deliberate choice, one is responsible for his failure to act, and the morality of the omission is determined in accord with the same norms that are applied to a positive choice to do something. If there is advertence to the obligation to do something, the omission of the performance of the act is equatable with a positive sinful choice , and the result is a grave or venial sin as the gravity of the obligation and the circumstances of the case demand. In America, Catholics statistically have more abortions than any other religious or nonreligious group. Even if failure to actively teach accounted for only 1 to 10 percent of Catholic abortions, the crime would be grave. Catholic bishops are also guilty of grave scandal by their failure to take direct positive action against the evils of abortion.
Scandal also exists when bishops teach error or permit false teaching.
2326 Scandal is a grave offense when by deed or omission it deliberately leads others to sin. In the Catholic Church some crimes call for automatic excommunication. Bishops are deemed culpable as prescribed in the following canons. A person who actually procures an abortion incurs a latae sententiae 5 excommunication. Whether some bishops are already excommunicated is of less importance than if, with presented knowledge, they will be under certain automatic excommunication by continued failure to effectively teach and set example .