As the Spanish Government’s reforms to the abortion law receive the endorsement of Parliament, rejecting an anti-life opposition motion in the process, Chairman of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute Luca Volontè congratulated the Spanish Prime Minister on his commitment to strengthening the protections for the unborn:
“Mr Rajoy was elected to office with a manifesto commitment to tighten Spain’s abortion laws and has duly taken the first steps towards honouring his election pledge. Yet in the past weeks we have seen the international abortion lobby bring all its influence to bear against the Spanish government, culminating in this week’s attempt to withdraw the bill from Parliament. Despite the vitriol thrown at them, Mr Rajoy and his government have remained resolute in their commitment to speak up for the most vulnerable in society, those without a voice of their own to protest, the unborn child. I therefore commend the steadfastness of the Spanish government, and pray that they will see this bill through its remaining stages.”
Led by the Spanish Socialist Workers party, the motion to reject the bill was defeated 183 votes to 151 in the Spanish Congress. The bill will most likely be ratified and passed into law later this year. Titled “A Comprehensive Law for the Protection of the Rights of Women who have Conceived and are Pregnant” – the bill would reassert the termination of an unborn child as a crime, but decriminalise abortion in in the case of rape or a proven risk to the physical or psychological health of the mother. Furthermore, two doctors unconnected to the abortion clinic would have to certify the necessity of a termination, under the aforementioned conditions. Any medical practitioner finding the practice of abortion morally abhorrent will have the expressed right to refrain on the grounds of conscientious objection.
Whilst decried by abortion firms as tantamount to declaring war on women, the reforms essentially return the law to its previous position before the Socialist government of Zapatero declared abortion on demand. This removal of restrictions in 2010 quickly turned Spain into one of the abortion capitals of the world, with one in every five children being terminated.
Luca Volontè concluded: “While not a complete end to abortion, this bill does give hope for a new culture, one that would value every human life as equally important, acknowledging the innate dignity of each child, including the unborn. To change the law in Spain would send a message to all pro-life campaigners across Europe that despite the current trend towards a culture of death, it is possible to advance the cause of the unborn child. In the words of Spain’s Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón it would place Spain ‘in the vanguard of the 21st century.’ ”