Spain’s Conservatives File Lawsuit to Stop New Pro-Abortion Law From Starting
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
June 1, 2010
Madrid, Spain (LifeNews.com) — An opposition political party has filed a lawsuit to prevent a new pro-abortion law from taking effect later this week. The Spain Parliament this year approved the final version of a new law that expands abortions and provides no parental consent for teenagers wanting abortions.
Under the law, abortions are allowed for any reason to 14 weeks, they are allowed up to 22 weeks if an abortion practitioner certifies a serious threat to the health of the mother, or says the unborn child is disabled.
Beyond 22 weeks, abortions are only allowed in serious cases of fetal disability and in cases where the pregnancy threatens the mother’s life.
The center-right Popular Party filed a lawsuit today with the constitutional Court, Spain’s highest court, calling the new law unconstitutional. They want the court to issue an injunction preventing the law from taking effect on June 5 as originally planned.
According to a CP report, the party is citing a 1985 ruling from the same court saying the so-called abortion right can’t take precedence over the right to life of unborn children, except in certain cases such as rape and incest.
Popular Party lawmaker Sandra Moneo said, CP indicates, that establishing a time period of unlimited abortions "violates the balance between the rights of the mother and the rights of the unborn."
The party also argues that letting minor teenagers have abortions without parental consent violates the rights of parents.
Ignacio Arsuaga, president of HazteOir.org (Make Yourself Heard), said even the current law is pro-abortion but this one goes further.
Arsuaga said during a rally of tens of thousands of people in opposition to the new law, "We sadly note that even under the current law, in 2008, abortion was the number-one cause of death in Spain, with more than 120,000 abortions taking place in the country that year — more than double the number in 1996 (51,000)."
"All of this, while Spain faces the social and economic challenges of having one of the lowest birthrates in the world (as low as the birthrate in Greece)," Arsuaga added.
The new bill received automatic approval when a majority of senators rejected three proposals by conservative parties to veto it, and then rejected 88 amendments to water it down.
Abortion was officially allowed in 1985 but only for cases of rape or when a woman’s life or health is in danger.
Spanish abortion centers had been misusing the health exception to essentially allow any abortions, including late-term abortions, but the new law makes it so they no longer have to worry about running afoul of the law.
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