The reform allows minors aged 16 and 17 to have abortions without parental consent.
Photo: Tadeusz Lakota in Unsplash
Newsroom (May 19, 2022, 10:00 AM, Gaudium Press) A reform of the abortion law was approved yesterday by the Spanish Council of Ministers that allows, among other provisions, minors aged 16 and 17 to abort without the consent of their parents.
The reform also eliminates the mandatory three-day reflection period before the abortion and the envelope with information, which was given to women who had already decided to have an abortion. The envelope contained information about maternity and birth aid. Now, this envelope will only be handed out at the request of the interested woman.
The reform also seeks to create facilities for performing abortions in all hospitals and regulate conscientious objection so that there will always be doctors who do not have a conscientious objection and perform abortions in hospitals. Abortion centers will offer the practice of chemical or surgical abortion. After the abortion, a period of medical leave will be granted.
This reform also advocates the free distribution of the so-called morning-after pill, which can be distributed in health centers and sexual reproductive health centers.
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Shortly before the approval of the reform, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, Archbishop of Valencia, had spoken out on the issue at the Catholic University of Valencia.
“We are on the verge of promoting a law even more contrary to life. May Our Lady help us not to resign ourselves before iniquitous laws. In this way, we also defend the family, born from life, where life grows and is protected,” the cardinal declared.
Julio Tudela, director of the Bioethics Observatory at the Catholic University of Valencia, also referred to the new law, saying that the reform approved today is the “least protective in Europe. Extinguishing consciences seems an inevitable step to approving the right to kill. Targeting and persecuting opponents who refuse to abort or practice euthanasia seems possible if killing is recognized as a right.”
Compiled by Zephania Gangl
