Spain Sees Widespread Debate Over Abortion Law
A fierce debate rages on in Spain over a proposed law that would make early-term abortion legal and virtually unrestricted in the country.
Religious officials across the nation have used Holy Week services to publicly oppose the legislation, which would legalize consensual abortions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
The law would also allow women from the age of 16 to seek an abortion without parental consent. It would legalize abortions up to 22 weeks into a pregnancy in the case of congenital disorders.
Supporters of the legislation cite the nation's progressive policies in many other areas as evidence for their cause.
"How can it be that in Spain we allow transsexuals to get a sex change, that gay people can marry, but we don’t allow a woman to abort a child who has a severe disorder?” Gemma Botifoll said in the New York Times.
Botifoll recently crossed the border from Spain to France to abort her 34-week pregnancy after doctors told her the baby would have severe disabilities at birth and would likely die within a year.
Spain's current laws allow abortions within 12 weeks of a pregnancy in the case of rape and 22 weeks for congenital disorders.
However, 97 percent of the nation's abortions take advantage of an exception that allows abortions at any point if a woman's physical or mental health is in jeopardy, the New York Times reported.
Anti-abortion groups and conservative government officials have joined the church in opposing the legislation, saying that abortions are not only morally wrong, but also harmful to women.
“This government likes to say it defends women’s rights,” Ignacio Arsuaga, president of the conservative advocacy group HazteOir, said in the New York Times. “But women who abort suffer physically and psychologically.”