Left Image – Wikimedia: Abortion protest in Barcelona
The hard-left coalition that leads Spain has announced plans to embed the right to abortion within the country’s constitution. Prime minister Pedro Sánchez framed the proposal as a defence of “reproductive freedom” in the face of what he described as a global rollback of women’s rights. If successful, Spain would become only the second country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right, after France achieved this last year.
This proposal comes against the backdrop of Spain’s rapid social transformation since the mid-1970s. When King Juan Carlos oversaw the country’s transition from Francoism to modern Western democracy, Spain began a process of mass social liberalisation. Successive governments loosened restrictions on divorce, contraception, same-sex relationships, and abortion. The first loosening of abortion restrictions in 1985 did not allow purely elective abortion. In 2010 that changed, with a 14-week limit put on these. Critics say the latest constitutional reform would enshrine that injustice into place for generations to come.
The timing of Sánchez’s move is significant. Polls show surging support for Vox, a Catholic nationalist party which has positioned itself as a defender of traditional family values. In Madrid last week, a Vox-backed measure passed with support from the conservative People’s Party (PP) requiring public health services to inform women about so-called “post-abortion syndrome.” Sánchez has voiced his anger, insinuating that Vox are promoting pseudoscience, yet the growing rightist party has hit back, correctly arguing that women are often misled about the risks of terminating a pregnancy.
Internationally, Sánchez’s initiative reflects a wider trend in Europe. France’s aforementioned constitutional change succeeded after a sustained campaign, while the Netherlands recently failed to secure enough parliamentary support for a similar amendment. Abortion activists across the continent are trying to respond to the fallout from the 2022 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe vs Wade; they’re panicked as the once unimagined political reversal of abortion again seems possible.
The Spanish government is pushing a second policy to restrict information provided to women considering abortion to “objective scientific evidence,” citing their standards from the World Health Organisation. Opponents argue this could have the effect of silencing pro-life voices and preventing women from hearing about the emotional, psychological, or physical harms associated with abortion.
Spain’s constitutional reform will require the support of three-fifths of the lower house of the Cortes, meaning that Sánchez must win over members of the opposition conservative opposition. SPUC hopes that the threshold proves insurmountable and can put a further stop to the culture of abortion and death rearing its head across Europe.
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