The Spaniards have been heard. 80% of them said they were against the reform restricting the right to abortion. Faced with this opposition, and that even coming from its own camp, the Spanish government decided to backtrack.
As the daily La Croix reminds us, with this draft law, “voluntary termination of pregnancy should no longer be a right, and should only be authorized under two conditions: in the event of rape – subject to ‘a complaint – an abortion would have been possible up to twelve weeks; in the event of a pregnancy with a “physical or psychological risk” for the health of the mother, the abortion could have been carried out up to the twenty-second week. In the event of malformation of the fetus, trisomy for example, the text considerably hardened the right to abortion. The doctors had to certify that the pathology would entail a “psychological risk” for the mother. The Spanish daily El Pais described this reform as “the most restrictive of the democratic era”.
Spain therefore maintains the provisions of the law passed in 2010. Abortion is authorized up to 14 weeks of pregnancy and up to 22 weeks in the event of malformation of the fetus. Obviously, the pro-life movement, Derecho a vivir, was quick to react, underlines La Croix: “We cannot trust Mariano Rajoy. He has no principles. The withdrawal of this law will not be free. The Spaniards have principles and we are going to demonstrate it to him, ”assured his spokesperson, Gador Joya.
But the head of the Spanish executive, Mariano Rajoy, has not said his last word. Indeed, as the daily Liberation mentions, he does not abandon his initial idea, that of obliging minors to have the authorization of their parents in order to have the right to access abortion.
