On the draft law on Abortion in Spain

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In light of the adoption of the Draft Law designed to protect the rights of pregnant women that has recently been presented by the conservative government in Spain, we European Greens want to show our opposition to the Draft Law, which represents an unacceptable backwards step in a woman's right to decide about her own body. It also represents a direct attack on the rights and freedom of women.

The proposed Law on Sexual and Reproductive Rights and the Voluntary Interruption of pregnancy presented by the PP conservative Government is a disparagement of women’s rights. From a strong ultraconservative and reactionary perspective, it is a response to pressure and the desires of the Spanish Episcopal Conference, and is the biggest retrograde step in this field of our democratic era.

Limiting abortion to only two cases (when there is a serious danger to the physical, mental health, or life of the pregnant woman; and when pregnancy as the result of a crime rape) puts the Spanish legal framework outside the scope of international treaties. It is far away from many European Resolutions, and from any recommendations of the World Health Organisation in the field of sexual and reproductive rights. It relegates women's rights to levels typical of countries that do not subscribe to international treaties and that violates human rights.

In the proposed Draft, the right for women to decide on their own body is transferred to the supervision of doctors, who at the same time, are placed under penal threats based on retrograde moral criteria that have little to do with ethics or scientific criteria. The ideological basis of this Draft Law considers women to be subjects without guaranteed rights, and undermine their freedom by prioritising the defence of the supposed rights of “the conceived.”

This misogynist fundamentalism brings Spain back to the times where abortion was the sole privilege of those who could afford it economically. It therefore encourages economic discrimination, and drives women to seek out clandestine abortions increasing the risk on their health and their lives.

This Draft Law follows the general ideological framework of conservative policies and laws that the conservative PP Government have enacted in many fields since their arrival in 2011, such as social and workers rights, the environment and education.

It has been proven that these restrictive laws are completely useless in terms of reducing unwanted pregnancies. Data shows that the rate of miscarriage is lower in countries with more permissive laws. It is, therefore, a Draft Law that will not be and effective solution for reducing the number of abortions, as it is the result of hypocrisy and imposed institutional sexism promoted by the reactionary right.

The promotion of health and sexual education are measures that public institutions must prioritise to secure and strengthen sexual and reproductive rights. Voluntary termination of pregnancy and contraception methods should be guaranteed rights under the public health system.

We must continue fighting, not only to avoid any retrograde steps, but for all remaining steps for advancing the rights of every woman in Spain and elsewhere.

For all these reasons, and against the serious attack of social and civil rights that the sexist patriarchal culture expressed in many areas by the Spanish Government,

we, the European Greens,

 Call the Spanish Government to immediately withdral the Draft Law on Abortion, cynically titled the Protection of the Rights of the Pregnant Woman and of the Rights of the Conceived.

 Will continue defending women's rights and freedom, and will continue promoting initiatives and measures to improve policies on sexual and reproductive rights, that allow women to freely decide on when to have children, across the EU.

 Support and encourage the feminist movement in the struggle for women's rights and freedom, in order to avoid the serious setbacks imposed by this sexist government.

/ Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green Party, Malta, register their objection