Sánchez proposes protecting the right to abortion in the Constitution

BarcelonaPedro Sánchez's response to The ultraconservative offensive of the PP and Vox against social and reproductive rights of women. The Spanish government announced this Friday that it will push for a constitutional reform to include the right to abortion in the Constitution, a measure with which the executive branch hopes to combat "any attempt at a rollback that threatens women's rights." This is a long-standing demand by feminist and left-wing groups to prevent changes in government and parliamentary majorities from curtailing rights, as unsuccessfully attempted by the PP's Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, who, following strong social protests, withdrew the proposal and resigned in 2014. Adding abortion to the Constitution would make Spain the second country in the world to take this step, after France. "In a global context of an offensive against sexual and reproductive rights, Spain takes another step toward enshrining the freedom and autonomy of women to decide about their lives," the same sources add. The initiative entails a change to Article 43 of the constitutional text, which is not easy because it requires a qualified majority of three-fifths of both Congress and the Senate, meaning the support of the PP is needed.

The Popular Party (PP), in fact, has already rejected the constitutional reform. In an interview on RNE (Spanish National Radio), PP deputy secretary Juan Bravo denied that abortion is a right and argued that the law that already regulates abortion "is sufficient." "I think going further only seeks to provoke confrontation," the PP leader replied. According to the PP, the initiative announced by Sánchez is "smoke" to try to cover up "the scandals" within his entourage. PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and Sumar (Spanish Nationalist Party) have attacked Alberto Núñez Feijóo's party. In a media address this Friday, Health Minister Mónica García, who proposed protecting the right to abortion in the Constitution more than a year ago, accused the PP of being "indistinguishable" from Vox.

Actions against the PP-Vox offensive

In parallel, the state government has also announced that it will approve measures against the "dissemination of false or misleading information that could coerce women seeking to terminate a pregnancy." One of these measures will be the modification of Royal Decree 825/2010, which implements the Organic Law on Sexual and Reproductive Health and the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy. "The reform will establish the obligation for all information [...] to be scientifically based and upheld by the standards of international institutions such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the American Psychiatric Association (APA)," explains the Moncloa. "Theories without scientific basis, such as the alleged syndrome, would not be included in these classifications," they add.

All this, after the Madrid PP has retracted the proposal it voted for with the Vox councilors to force the professionals of its health centers and social services to report a false "postural trauma" which has no scientific validity. The initiative is in line with the agenda of the most ultra-conservative international groups. The history of measures in this regard also includes the failed attempt toCastile and León to make women hear the fetal heartbeatbefore undergoing an abortion.

"The Spanish government will continue working in every possible way to prevent women who wish to freely exercise their right from suffering pressure of any kind. Our country will thus continue to be an international benchmark in the defense of women's rights and freedoms," the Sánchez administration emphasizes, recalling that this year marks the fourth abortion in Spain.

In the 40 years of legalized abortion, there have been three reforms to the law: in 2010, which approved total decriminalization within the first 14 weeks of gestation; in 2011, which introduced parental consent for women with disabilities and those between 16 and 18 years of age, as well as the three mandatory days of reflection before the intervention; and in 2023, promoted by Irene Montero's Ministry of Equality, in which the rights cut in the previous decade were restored with the votes against the PP and Vox and the support of the rest of the parliamentary groups.