Activists plan to march in Madrid against plans to severely restrict access to abortion
Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in downtown Madrid on Saturday to protest against the Spanish government's plan to severely restrict women's access to abortion.
More than 300 groups plan to march to the Spanish parliament to present a letter demanding that the government abandon its push to enact some of the toughest abortion legislation in Europe. In late December, the governing People's party (PP) approved a bill that would see the country's relatively liberal abortion laws scaled back. Under the new law, Spanish women would only be able to terminate pregnancies in the case of rape or when there was a serious mental or physical health risk to the mother. The legislation is expected to pass in late spring.
Recent polls show between 70% and 80% of Spaniards oppose the changes. Protests have been taking place almost every other day across the country, ranging from the women who delivered 220 letters to the French embassy requesting "health asylum" to the Andalucian youth who held signs on street corners asking people to spare change so they could "travel to London for an abortion" or "pay for a clandestine abortion".
Saturday's protest will be a show of force by a movement that has been steadily growing since the government announced their plans, said Puy Zatón, one of the protest organisers. "This will be one of the most important protests Spain has seen in the last 50 years."
Solidarity protests are also being planned in Britain, France, Brussels, Italy and Ecuador.
The abortion debate has spilled over the Spanish border, said Zatón, because what is happening in Spain has been a wake-up call about the "fragility" of women's rights. "European women know that what is happening to us now in Spain could happen to them. All of a sudden these rights can disappear."
Some of the most vocal opponents of the law have been members of the governing PP. As the party kicks off their national conference on Friday in Valladolid, the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, will address his fractured party, whose quarrels over the proposed law have provided endless fodder for Spanish media. The infighting began when José Antonio Monago, a senior PP leader and the president of the region of Extremadura, asked the government in a statement to abandon its crusade against abortion. He wrote: "Nobody can deny a woman the right to be a mother, and neither can anybody force a woman to become one."
Politicians across Europe have echoed his concerns. In France the minister for women's affairs, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, openly criticised the proposal to French media. "It's terrible to see a country like Spain, which in recent years has become a leader in the fight to end violence against women … take a step backwards in the rights of women to decide over their own bodies."
A heated discussion earlier this month in the European parliament debated what the Spanish decision could mean for the rest of the continent, with the Austrian politician Hannes Swoboda saying he was "frankly surprised" that the Spanish prime minister did not have "other problems to solve".
Rajoy has repeatedly maintained that the changes merely address an election promise that must be fulfilled. In a memorandum recently obtained by Spanish media, Spain's justice ministry offered another justification for pushing forward with the changes. Restricting abortions could have a "positive net impact" on the Spanish economy, it wrote, by increasing the country's birth rate, currently one of the lowest in the European Union.
In the face of a tremendous backlash, Rajoy recently conceded that the reform had become "a very sensitive issue" and added he would be open to slightly modifying the bill. "We are willing to discuss and listen to you and others," he told one opposition member after she called the proposed measures backward.
As she and other protest organisers gear up to welcome thousands to Madrid, Zatón rejected any talk of modifications of the bill. Saturday's mass mobilisation has just one goal, she said firmly. "We want this project to disappear." Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.
Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather in downtown Madrid on Saturday to protest against the Spanish government's plan to severely restrict women's access to abortion.
More than 300 groups plan to march to the Spanish parliament to present a letter demanding that the government abandon its push to enact some of the toughest abortion legislation in Europe. In late December, the governing People's party (PP) approved a bill that would see the country's relatively liberal abortion laws scaled back. Under the new law, Spanish women would only be able to terminate pregnancies in the case of rape or when there was a serious mental or physical health risk to the mother. The legislation is expected to pass in late spring.
Recent polls show between 70% and 80% of Spaniards oppose the changes. Protests have been taking place almost every other day across the country, ranging from the women who delivered 220 letters to the French embassy requesting "health asylum" to the Andalucian youth who held signs on street corners asking people to spare change so they could "travel to London for an abortion" or "pay for a clandestine abortion".
Saturday's protest will be a show of force by a movement that has been steadily growing since the government announced their plans, said Puy Zatón, one of the protest organisers. "This will be one of the most important protests Spain has seen in the last 50 years."
Solidarity protests are also being planned in Britain, France, Brussels, Italy and Ecuador.
The abortion debate has spilled over the Spanish border, said Zatón, because what is happening in Spain has been a wake-up call about the "fragility" of women's rights. "European women know that what is happening to us now in Spain could happen to them. All of a sudden these rights can disappear."
Some of the most vocal opponents of the law have been members of the governing PP. As the party kicks off their national conference on Friday in Valladolid, the prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, will address his fractured party, whose quarrels over the proposed law have provided endless fodder for Spanish media. The infighting began when José Antonio Monago, a senior PP leader and the president of the region of Extremadura, asked the government in a statement to abandon its crusade against abortion. He wrote: "Nobody can deny a woman the right to be a mother, and neither can anybody force a woman to become one."
Politicians across Europe have echoed his concerns. In France the minister for women's affairs, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, openly criticised the proposal to French media. "It's terrible to see a country like Spain, which in recent years has become a leader in the fight to end violence against women … take a step backwards in the rights of women to decide over their own bodies."
A heated discussion earlier this month in the European parliament debated what the Spanish decision could mean for the rest of the continent, with the Austrian politician Hannes Swoboda saying he was "frankly surprised" that the Spanish prime minister did not have "other problems to solve".
Rajoy has repeatedly maintained that the changes merely address an election promise that must be fulfilled. In a memorandum recently obtained by Spanish media, Spain's justice ministry offered another justification for pushing forward with the changes. Restricting abortions could have a "positive net impact" on the Spanish economy, it wrote, by increasing the country's birth rate, currently one of the lowest in the European Union.
In the face of a tremendous backlash, Rajoy recently conceded that the reform had become "a very sensitive issue" and added he would be open to slightly modifying the bill. "We are willing to discuss and listen to you and others," he told one opposition member after she called the proposed measures backward.
As she and other protest organisers gear up to welcome thousands to Madrid, Zatón rejected any talk of modifications of the bill. Saturday's mass mobilisation has just one goal, she said firmly. "We want this project to disappear." Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 hours ago.