Anti-abortionists are not giving up. Thousands of people demonstrated in Madrid on Sunday against a bill by the Spanish socialist government intended to facilitate access to public hospitals for women who wish to have an abortion. “Abortion is not a right,” read banners as protesters marched through the center of the capital chanting, “Let’s respect life more!” »
The demonstration was organized by the “Yes to life” platform, which estimates that it gathered 20,000 people, while the authorities estimated the number of demonstrators present in Madrid at less than 10,000 (9,000).
The executive wants to penalize anti-abortion demonstrations in front of clinics
The government of Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez supports the adoption of a new law designed to facilitate access to public hospitals for all women who want an abortion – including minors aged 16 and 17. The law also wants to penalize anti-abortion demonstrations in front of clinics, under the pretext that these actions amount to “harassment”.
Abortion was decriminalized in Spain in 1985 for three reasons (rape, serious risk for the woman and fetal malformation), before the country with a strong Catholic tradition legalized abortion without medical justification until the 14th week of pregnancy. in 2010.
In 2015, the right tried to return to the 1985 law before backing down, even if the legislation had changed for minors aged 16 and 17, obliged to provide a parental certificate. An obligation, which exists in most European countries with the exception of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, which the Spanish executive now wants to repeal. The Spanish government also wants to guarantee a minimum of access to abortion in the country, where eight of the 50 provinces have not recorded any abortion since its decriminalization in 1985.