Leave abortion alone
How can we combat the global climate of regression in terms of rights and freedoms? Advances achieved over decades are at risk from the offensive of a reactionary populism that increasingly dictates the agenda and public debates. We are seeing this in Trump's United States and throughout Europe. Catalonia and Spain are no exception. It is in this context that the Spanish government's intention to protect the right to abortion within the Constitution must be understood. But is this a genuine movement or a maneuver to seek a clash with the right? Former minister Irene Montero (Podemos) has been quick to denounce the alleged maneuver by the PSOE to use women's rights for a purely partisan self-interest operation.
On the political front, the PSOE's proposal has indeed unleashed opposition from the toughest PP, represented by the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who, following pressure from Vox, has once again gone into direct confrontation with Pedro Sánchez, whom she has called "abusive."machoAnd to whom she has asserted that she has lost two babies. Once again, Ayuso camouflages serious debate behind a personal attack, turning politics into a low-level television talk show. But Sánchez is already enjoying his duel with the Madrid president, which, in the process, weakens him once again.
Ayuso, however, doesn't have a precisely coherent position on the matter. In fact, she has just overruled her Health Minister, who voted in favor of the registry of conscientious objectors to abortion, a legal requirement of 2023. This registry is in no way a blacklist, as Ayuso claims—citizens cannot consult it. In fact, the Community of Madrid has a similar registry for the euthanasia law. Simply following what happened two weeks ago in the city council of the Spanish capital, where a text on postural syndrome—a syndrome without any scientific evidence—was approved at the proposal of Vox, Ayuso has taken the opportunity to stake out an ideological position in the field of culture wars with the aim of preventing Abas from going it alone against the always slow and disoriented Feijóo.
The Socialist executive's initiative to request a consultative report from the Council of State to modify Article 43 of the Constitution and incorporate this women's right will require a qualified majority in Parliament. In other words, the votes of the People's Party (PP) will be necessary. It will be difficult to obtain them. But beyond that, there is another problem. There are technical doubts about its effectiveness: within the legal world, some believe the measure could have a boomerang effect. It is not clear whether the modification further protects abortion, a right that, with the change, would not be included in the section that regulates fundamental rights and public freedoms. Therefore, it is not known whether this right is already sufficiently protected thanks to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court. All very unserious.