eChurch Blog

Previous related Posts:-

Spain’s socialist government has formally unveiled plans to liberalise the country’s abortion law.

The Institute for Family Policy in Spain said this week that more than half of teen pregnancies in the country end in abortion and blamed the current law on abortion and the use of the morning-after pill for the problem.

The Collegial Medical Organization and various pro-life groups in Spain have strongly rejected statements by the country’s Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamano, who said Thursday that “there is no room for conscientious objection” when it comes to abortion

Bishop Demetrio Fernandez of Tarazona, Spain voiced his support this week for the October 17 March for Life in Madrid and warned that with the legalization of abortion, “a true ecological disaster” has been unleashed in Europe and will turn it into “a continent of death.”

The Archbishop of Madrid and president of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, said this week the most serious element of the new bill on abortion is that it turns the practice into “a woman’s right.”

BBC

More than a million people are said to have taken part in a march in Madrid to oppose government plans to liberalise Spain’s abortion law.

Several dozen centre-right opposition party joined the demonstration, which was backed by Roman Catholic bishops.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wants to introduce abortion on demand.

At present, a pregnancy can only be terminated in mainly Catholic Spain under specific circumstances.

It is the latest in a series of ethical issues which have pitted the Catholic right against the government, which has legalised gay marriage and made divorce easier.

‘Rights and respect’

Saturday’s march, called Every Life Matters, has brought together more than 40 religious and civil society groups.

They are demanding that the government withdraw the draft law currently before parliament, which would introduce abortion on demand within the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy.

It would also permit girls aged 16 and 17 to have an abortion without their parents’ knowledge.

“This new law is a barbarity,” said one protester, Jose Carlos Felicidad, from the southern town of Algeciras.

“In this country, they protect animals more than human beings,” he told AFP news agency.

Spain’s existing law, dating from 1985, allows abortion in cases of rape, and when there are signs of foetal abnormality.

Spanish women can also end a pregnancy if their physical or psychological health is at risk. In practice, the last category has been used to justify the vast majority of abortions – of which there were 112,000 in 2007.

The government says the new law is about respect and rights for women, and that anyone wanting to terminate a pregnancy will first be explained the alternatives – including state help for young mothers.

It also claims its proposal will make abortion safer – by ensuring the procedure does not happen beyond 22 weeks of a pregnancy.

The BBC’s Steve Kingstone in Madrid says that in recent years shocking cases have emerged in which doctors performed abortions on women eight months pregnant, with the justification that their mental health was under threat.

FURTHER INTERNET RESOURCES

Big anti-abortion demonstration in Madrid

One millon protest abortion reforms in Spain: organisers

One million protest abortion liberalisation in Madrid

Spanish protest over abortion law

1 Million People Rally Against Abortion in Spain

Two million at March for Life in Madrid

Follow @eChurchBlog

Tags: Science & Medical

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Webmaster's Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.