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 constitutional reform to include the right to abortion in the constitution, a measure with which the executive hopes to combat "any attempt at regression that threatens women's rights."

Government sources emphasize that enshrining the right to abortion in the Constitution, which requires a qualified majority in Parliament, 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 is taking a further step toward enshrining the freedom and autonomy of women to decide about their lives," the same sources add.

In parallel, the Spanish government has also announced that it will approve measures against the "dissemination of false or misleading information that could coerce women who wish to terminate a pregnancy." One of these will be the amendment to 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 have a place in these classifications," they add.

All this, after the Madrid City Council announced that it will require professionals at its health centers and social services to report a suspected "postural trauma" which has no scientific validity. An initiative that responds to a proposal by Vox and that has the support of the municipal group and the leadership of the PP.

The initiative is in line with the agenda of the most ultraconservative 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 rights from suffering any kind of pressure. Our country will thus continue to be an international benchmark in the defense of women's rights and freedoms," emphasizes Sánchez's government, noting that this year marks the fourth abortion in Spain.