A pro-life group in Spain has gathered nearly a million signatures on a petition opposing reforms to the nation’s abortion laws. The group, Derecho a Vivio (Right to Live) will send the petition to the Moncloa Palace, the official residence and office of Spain’s President, at the end of the month.
The petition voices strident opposition to a new abortion bill that would legalize non-medical abortions for the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy and allow girls as young as 16 to obtain abortions without parental consent.
Currently women are able to obtain abortions only with consent from a medical doctor, in cases of threat to the mother’s physical or mental health. Unfortunately, the mental health caveat of current legislation is loose enough to allow for more than 100,000 abortions every year in Spain. Proponents of the bill claim the new legislation would simply cover most of these abortion.
The new petition is only the most recent in a series of attempts by religious and pro-family organizations to stop the bill from passing and reassert the nation’s support for life. In October, millions gathered in Madrid in a pro-life rally to oppose the new legislation. Then last week, thousands of Catholics gathered outside Real Madrid’s Bernabeu stadium to protest the abortion legislation and oppose the various anti-family and anti-family initiatives of the current socialist government.
The bill expanding legal abortions, which was introduced last year, passed the nation’s Congress of Deputies with a 184-158 vote on December 17. The Senate is now expected to vote on the bill earlier this year.