Catholic Clergy In Spain Launch Campaign Against Proposed Changes To Abortion Law

Main Category: Abortion
Article Date: 20 Mar 2009 - 7:00 PDT

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Spain's Roman Catholic clergy unveiled a national advertising campaign designed to rally opposition to the Socialist government's plan to reform the nation's abortion laws to allow procedures without a doctor's approval up to 14 weeks' gestation, the AP/Google.com reports. The campaign features ads "suggesting animals are better protected than unborn babies," with a picture of a toddler next to an Iberian lynx, a species that is highly protected in Spain, according to the AP/Google.com. The ad reads, "What about me? Protect my life!" Spanish Bishops Conference spokesperson Jose Antonio Martinez Camino said the campaign will post ads on 1,300 billboards in 37 cities and distribute 30,000 posters to parishioners nationwide by the end of the month.

Current law dates from 1985 and allows abortion up to 12 weeks' gestation in cases of rape, 22 weeks' gestation in cases of fetal malformation, and at any stage if a doctor determines a woman's physical or mental health would be at risk if the pregnancy continued, the AP/Google.com reports. The government hopes to approve the new law by the end of the year. Under the proposal, abortions between 14 weeks' and 22 weeks' gestation would be allowed if a doctor certifies a fetal malformation or threat to the health of the woman. Abortion would be permitted beyond 22 weeks' gestation only if a doctor detects a fetal malformation that would be fatal. Spanish Health Minister Bernat Soria said, "Right now, the debate is not about yes or no to abortion. Spain had that debate 20 years ago." He added, "It's about adapting our legislation to be in line with those European countries we continually say we want to be like."

A group of hundreds of scientists and researchers released a statement coinciding with the new campaign and criticizing the government's plan. Monica Lopez Barahona, director of the cord blood banking company Vidacord and a signatory to the statement, said, "Abortion, being an attack on life in the first weeks of development, is nobody's right." According to the AP/Google.com, the Socialist government in recent years has "frequently angered the Church and conservatives by enacting social reforms," such as same-sex marriage and divorce reforms (Giles, AP/Google.com, 3/17).

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