Last Saturday, tens of thousands of people participated in a demonstration in Madrid protesting their government’s decision to end efforts to ban abortion except for cases of rape and incest. The theme of the pro-life march was “Every Life Matters,” and 500 buses brought people from all over the country to peacefully stand for life.
In September, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, went back on a promise made by his Popular Party to reverse legalized abortion through the first 14 weeks of pregnancy and up to 22 weeks if the baby is found to have “serious deformations.”
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In 2010, Socialist leader, Rodriguez Zapatero, worked to pass a law that declared abortion as a “right” and he did all he could to promote abortion. The law also allowed 16- and 17-year old minors to receive abortions without parental consent.
The Popular Party, which usually sides with the Roman Catholic Church on social issues, responded and said, “We will change the current legislation model relating to abortion in order to reinforce the protection of the right to life as well as female minors.” The text went on to say, “Motherhood must be protected and supported. We will defend a law protecting motherhood with measures helping pregnant women, in particular those in difficult situations.”
As LifeNews previously reported, the failure of the pro-life legislation caused Spain’s Justice Minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, to resign from his position. When Mr. Gallardon was asked what he would do next he said, “I’m not leaving to take up any other political post. After being Mayor of Madrid, First Minister of Madrid and now Justice Minister, my political life is over.” The ProLife Alliance has welcomed the minister’s principled resignation but laments the failure to tighten abortion law in Spain.
Previously, the Justice Minister made pro-life statements and specifically commented on aborting disabled babies. He said “I do not understand why the unborn are unprotected, permitting them to be aborted, because of the fact that they have some kind of handicap or deformity,” he said. “It seems to me to be ethically inconceivable we have lived so long with this legislation, and I think that the same level of protection that is given to an unborn child without any type of handicap or deformity should be given to those that are verified as lacking some of the abilities that other unborn children have.”
Unfortunately, since 1985 Spain’s had over a million abortions and the city of Madrid has become known as the abortion capital since so many women travel there for abortion.
