In December 2013, the Spanish Council of Ministers adopted a draft bill aimed at limiting access to abortion. (Gènéthique press review on December 27th, 2014) Since then, the presentation of this project to Parliament has been constantly deferred. A week ago, the Spanish daily newspaper, El Mundo, announced that the draft bill would not materialise (Gènéthique press review on September 15th, 2014).
However, on Tuesday, 23 September, Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, broke his silence and officially announced that the draft bill had been rescinded. However, a reform of current abortion legislation was promised in the electoral manifesto. The Prime Minister declared that: “The Government has done everything within its power to attempt the best consensus possible. […] We will continue to investigate the formulae that would allow us to reach a better agreement regarding reform. However, for the time being, I believe that we have made the most sensible decision,” he added.
This announcement will disappoint thousands of anti-abortion protestors who demonstrated last Sunday, 21 September, (Gènéthique press review on September 22nd, 2014) and who have already spoken of “betrayal” in anticipation of today’s decision.
The law, which has been in force since 2010, authorises abortion up to the fourteenth week of pregnancy.
AFP 23/09/2014