Radical Abortion Law Advances in Spain

A left wing coalition government in Spain’s legislature is slated to approve communist Minister of Equality Irene Montero’s proposal to eliminate most restrictions on abortion in Spain.

To block the proposal, a total of 176 seats would be needed. Currently, Spanish conservative party Vox (52 seats) and center right party, PP (89 seats), added together only muster 141 votes. Even if the conservative coalition had a majority in the parliament, the PP has signaled that it will not spend any political capital to oppose abortion.

Demographic Winter: La España Vacía

“La España Vacía” is a term used to describe the severe depopulation of rural Spain. Currently, over half the country is at risk of severe depopulation. A quick glance at a map of the population density of Europe, which is itself under severe demographic pressure, illustrates the depth of the Spanish population problem.

Amidst this demographic winter, the governing alliance of socialists and communists is moving to approve a series of measures intended to embed the practice of abortion into the socialized healthcare system, remove the few meaningful restrictions on abortion in the current law, and make abortion and sterilization more easily accessible.

According to the leftist government’s ministry of Health, 84% of abortions are committed in private clinics. The current legislation aims to force the practice of abortion into every state-run health center and hospital, eliminate parental consent for minors seeking abortions and eliminate the three-day waiting period.

Spain’s population replacement rate is one of the lowest in the entire world at 1.23 children per woman. In order for a nation to replace its population, the fertility rate needs to be at least 2.1 children per woman. At its current rate, Spain will lose 11% of its population by 2050. In the past Spain has seen immigration flows to replace some of the falling birthrate, but Spain’s socialist policies have consistently made the nation suffer increasingly greater economic and social crisis which have caused less desperate immigrants to stay away from Spain. With the current efforts aimed at making abortion even more available, Spain’s demographic and social problems are likely to worsen.

History of Spanish Abortion Law

Spain is the perfect example of the left’s political roadmap for abortion.

In 1936, when the Spanish radical left assumed power, one of their first acts was to legalize abortion, first during the first 12 weeks, then completely. As Spain descended into a bloody civil war, the area under anti-communist control reversed course, finally outlawing abortion altogether under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

In the post-Franco democratic era, every leftist Spanish prime minister has progressively loosened abortion restrictions while the center right parties have done little to defend the right to life. In 1985, under the leadership of Felipe Gonzalez, Spain legalized abortion in the cases of health (including mental health), rape and where an unborn baby suffered from severe disability. In 2010, the socialist prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero greatly expanded legal abortion, this time to a trimester-style framework where abortion was allowed for any reason during the first 14 weeks, allowed for broad “health” reasons up to 22 weeks, and after 22 weeks mostly prohibited it. The law included a parental notification provision for minors, and a three day waiting period, which could be overridden by alleging special circumstances.

Highlights of the New Spanish Abortion Law

The new abortion law is the final nail in the coffin for unborn Spanish babies and will undoubtedly cause the Spanish demographic winter to become even more severe.

The new abortion law:

• Eliminates the requirement to notify the parents of minor girl’s seeking an abortion.
• Requires all state-run hospitals and clinics to perform abortions.
• Mandates the creation of a registry for doctors who refuse to commit abortions, ostensibly to make sure abortionists are available in all clinics, but which will make discrimination and coercion of doctors easier.
• Requires mandatory paid leave from work after for women who end the life of the unborn children.
• Mandates the “free” distribution of the abortifacient morning after pill in all clinics as well as free condoms in all schools.
• Requires sexual “education” with gender ideology in all schools.

Potential Conflict with Spain’s Judiciary

In the Spanish system of legislation, revisions of existing laws, such as the laws governing abortion, are submitted by the Prime Minister and his cabinet to the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ in Spanish) for an advisory opinion regarding any constitutional conflicts the law may cause.

In this case, the law was proposed by the socialist/communist coalition government using an “emergency” process which limited the amount of time available for the judicial body to respond, effectively eliminating the possibility for significant timely feedback from the CGPJ.

In a bold move, the communist minister for “equality”, Irene Montero accused the CGPJ of “dragging their feet” and “not doing their job” because they “do not want to support feminist rights.”

The Ministry of “Equality”

The Ministry of “Equality” was created by socialist prime minister Zapatero in 2008 to combat racism, sexism and promote abortion and gender ideology. In 2020 the agency had 190 employees and managed a budget of over 500 million Euros.

Equality Minister Irene Montero (34), has been a member of the Communist Youth Union of Spain since the age of sixteen and is the partner of the communist “Podemos” party co-founder Pablo Iglesias. While Iglesias rose to prominence through the anti-globalist protests of the early 2000’s, the younger Montero came to the forefront of politics during the mortgage crisis a decade later.

Like all good communist power couples, Iglesias and Montero used their political power to live in luxury, which caused a minor scandal among leftists in Spain who were indignant that their communist leaders should live in the lap of luxury.

A Dark Cold Future

Unless Spain does a 180 degree turn and begins to adopt a culture of life that protects and defends the family and unborn children, it is highly unlikely that the nation that was once a proud Catholic empire will retain any semblance of its historical greatness.