ONE MILLION PRO-LIFERS MARCH IN MADRID, SPAIN (OCTOBER 17, 2009)

 

Anti-abortion demonstration "Each life matters" in Madrid – Spain

INTERNET SOURCE: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/One_million_protest_against_Spanish_abortion_liberalisation

One million protest against Spanish abortion liberalisation

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Anti-abortion demonstration "Each life matters" in Madrid – Spain

According to organisers, more than one million people have marched across Madrid, Spain to oppose plans to liberalise abortion law. Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wants to introduce abortion on demand, allowing women as young as 16 to have abortions without their parents' consent. Currently women may only terminate pregnancies in the predominantly Catholic country under specific circumstances.

	This new law is a barbarity. In this country, they protect animals more than human beings
—Jose Carlos Felicidad, 67, retired naval technician

The 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) march contained members from 42 religious and civil society groups, with 600 buses and several planes used to bring anti-abortion supporters, according to organisers. The protest was also supported by the conservative opposition People's Party and the Roman Catholic Church.

The march started under a banner emblazoned with "Every Life Matters", and tens of thousands of supporters carried banners and flags with "For Life, Women and Motherhood" and "Women Against Abortion" and "Madrid 2009, Capital of Life", along the route to the Plaza de Independencia, where many more waited.

A spokesman for one of the rally organiser, HazteOir (Make Yourself Heard), reported that approximately 1.5 million people had participated in the rally and march. The Madrid regional government put the figures at around 1.2 million.

The supporters want the government to withdraw the draft law currently up for debate in the parliament in November, which would introduce abortion on demand within the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy, based on laws currently in place in most other European Union countries. It would replace Spain's law introduced in 1985, which allows abortion in cases of rape, when there are signs of foetal abnormality, or when a woman's physical or psychological health is at risk. This latter category has been used to justify 112,000 abortions in 2007, a majority of which occurred in Spain.

"This new law is a barbarity. In this country, they protect animals more than human beings," said Jose Carlos Felicidad, aged 67, a retired naval technician, who had come to the rally in Madrid from the town of Algeciras.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero spoke in defence of the draft law, saying the state should not "intervene in the free and private decision of a woman, who is the one who has to take on the responsibility of a pregnancy during her entire life." According to the government, the law is about respect and women's rights, and that alternatives will be explained first to anyone wishing to terminate a pregnancy. It also said that the new law will make abortion less dangerous, by making sure that the procedure is not done after 22 weeks.

The prime minister has passed a series of social reforms since he came to power in 2004. Among them were measures to legalise gay marriage, give more rights to transsexuals, and permit fast-track divorces.

Anti-abortion demonstration "Each life matters" in Madrid – Spain

INTERNET SOURCE: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/17/spain.abortion.protest/

Thousands protest abortion in Spain

• Story Highlights
• The anti-abortion protest, themed "each life is important," began at 5 p.m.
• Many leading conservative politicians attended
• Local media estimated the crowd in the tens of thousands

By Al Goodman

CNN Madrid Bureau Chief

MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- Thousands flocked to Spain's capital Saturday to protest the Socialist government's move to make it easier to get an abortion.

Protesters in Madrid on Saturday demonstrate against legislation to loosen restrictions on abortion in Spain.

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/17/spain.abortion.protest/]

The anti-abortion protest, themed "each life is important," began at 5 p.m. in central Madrid and many leading conservative politicians attended, including former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. Local media estimated the crowd in the tens of thousands.

The protest was prompted by a proposed law that would ease restrictions on obtaining an abortion.

Since 1985, abortion has been decriminalized, but only in matters of rape, or when the health of the child or mother is at risk. Victims of rape can legally get an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy, and women can opt for abortions until the 22nd week of pregnancy if doctors detect a malformation of the fetus.

Most abortions in Spain are performed when the woman's psychological or physical health is at risk, and mainly in private clinics, abortion clinic staffers at Dator Clinic in Madrid told CNN.

The number of abortions has doubled in the past decade in the traditionally Roman Catholic country, from nearly 54,000 in 1998 to 112,000 in 2007, the most recent year for available data, according to Spain's Ministry of Health.

The Socialist government has introduced a bill that would make it easier to get an abortion and give it legal backing, riling up abortion opponents, who already rallied thousands of demonstrators to the streets last March.

The bill, soon to be debated in Parliament, would permit abortions through 14 weeks of pregnancy and set the legal age to obtain an abortion without parental consent at 16 years old.

Supporters say the bill includes the "voluntary interruption of pregnancy" as part of a broader national strategy on sexual and reproductive health, with education and access to contraceptives, aimed at preventing unwanted pregnancies. Unwanted pregnancies have been on the rise in Spain, said Equality Minister Bibiana Aido in May, shortly before the introduction of the bill.

But opponents say the proposed law throws open the door to more abortions.

Benigno Blanco, director of Spanish Family Forum who organized the protest, told conservative newspaper ABC that "this debate won't end until there's not a single abortion." Blanco was a senior official in Aznar's government.

Protesters traveled to the rally from various cities across Spain, and the event had the support of 234 anti-abortion groups from 45 countries, organizers said.

The ruling Socialist party called the conservative-run protest "hypocritical" in a statement Saturday. The marchers said they opposed abortion in general, but the party said conservatives did nothing to completely outlaw abortion during their eight years in power.

Socialist lawmaker Carmen Monton said the protesters are trying to "take the debate back to 20 years ago, when in fact abortion has been going on in Spain."

She said the Socialists, despite the protest on Saturday, are confident of passing the bill with the support of several smaller, mainly leftist parties in parliament. But due to parliamentary schedules, it may not face a vote to become law until early next spring.