Related News
Abortion restrictions reduced in Spain
Source: Agencies |
December 18, 2009, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
LAWMAKERS voted to ease Spain's abortion law yesterday, approving a bill to allow the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks.
The change would bring this traditionally Roman Catholic country in line with its more secular neighbors in northern Europe.
The measure now goes to the Senate, where passage is expected some time early next year.
Abortion reform was the last major pending issue in a bold reform agenda by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who took power in 2004.
Under him Spain has also legalized gay marriage and made it easier for Spaniards to divorce in a drive that has infuriated conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church.
The vote in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies was 184 in favor, 158 against and one abstention.
Under the current law, which dates back to 1985, Spanish women could in theory go to jail for getting an abortion outside certain strict limits - up to week 12 in case of rape and week 22 if the fetus is malformed.
But abortion is in effect widely available because women can assert mental distress as sole grounds for having an abortion, regardless of how late the pregnancy is. Most of the more than 100,000 abortions carried out each year in Spain fall under this category.
The bill approved yesterday ends the threat of imprisonment and declares abortion to be a woman's right.
It would also allow 16 and 17-year-olds to have abortions without parental consent, as is the case in Germany, Britain and France.
The change would bring this traditionally Roman Catholic country in line with its more secular neighbors in northern Europe.
The measure now goes to the Senate, where passage is expected some time early next year.
Abortion reform was the last major pending issue in a bold reform agenda by Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who took power in 2004.
Under him Spain has also legalized gay marriage and made it easier for Spaniards to divorce in a drive that has infuriated conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church.
The vote in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies was 184 in favor, 158 against and one abstention.
Under the current law, which dates back to 1985, Spanish women could in theory go to jail for getting an abortion outside certain strict limits - up to week 12 in case of rape and week 22 if the fetus is malformed.
But abortion is in effect widely available because women can assert mental distress as sole grounds for having an abortion, regardless of how late the pregnancy is. Most of the more than 100,000 abortions carried out each year in Spain fall under this category.
The bill approved yesterday ends the threat of imprisonment and declares abortion to be a woman's right.
It would also allow 16 and 17-year-olds to have abortions without parental consent, as is the case in Germany, Britain and France.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
