No more “abortion on demand” under new law

[Perikles]

Here is an article from El País in 1976

They have just put the clock back almost 40 years.

[Perikles]

There are now dissenting voices within the PP itself. Here in El País in English

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

"Incompetent gender"

According to Valenciano, the law presented last week by Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón treats women like an "incompetent gender."

"This abortion law would not have been approved by conservatives in France, Germany or Great Britain. It is the law that Europe's far-right would have drafted. The Spanish right has positioned itself to the right of the European right. In 2012 we discovered that the PP was a risk to the welfare state. In 2013, we have discovered that it is also a risk to civil rights and liberties."

Telling.

Somebody teach me how to do those screen quotes!

[Janet]

Do you mean when something appears in a box like this?

According to Valenciano, the law presented last week by Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón treats women like an "incompetent gender."

"This abortion law would not have been approved by conservatives in France, Germany or Great Britain. It is the law that Europe's far-right would have drafted. The Spanish right has positioned itself to the right of the European right. In 2012 we discovered that the PP was a risk to the welfare state. In 2013, we have discovered that it is also a risk to civil rights and liberties."

[Myrtle Hogan-Lance]

Yes, exactly that.   

[Janet]

new thread HERE 

[Perikles]

I suspected it, but now I'm convinced that Spain is being governed by the totally insane. Gallardón:

En una entrevista con ABC recogida por Efe, Gallardón señala que la ley del aborto, que próximamente iniciará su tramitación parlamentaria, es la más avanzada y progresista que ha hecho el Gobierno y se ha mostrado convencido de que tendrá continuidad en otros países europeos.

Since when were the Dark Ages progress? 

[Perikles]

El País reports on the huge concern expressed by the President of the Society of Spanish psychiatrists. The new law has provision for an abortion if there is a danger of serious mental harm to the woman. This reason was given for the vast majority of abortions before the 2010 law, (loneliness, fear, economic and social repercussions etc) but now the provision is a far stricter one and requires the approval by two psychiatrists. Not only that, this guy claims there are no arguments for abortion which have anything to do with actual mental health, so this provision is meaningless.

Naturally, there was no consultation between the government and this society of psychiatrists before drafting the law, and the law puts the psychiatrist in an impossible position of having to make a moral judgement.

In other words, it seems the law has been intentionally formulated so that this reason for an abortion can never be given.

[Perikles]

El País details the bureaucratic procedure which a woman would have to go through in order to have an abortion. It is blindingly obvious that this procedure can't work and will never work in the  timescale required. As part of the procedure she has to make appointments to see two seperate psychiatrists who need to produce two seperate reports. If these are seen privately (which is likely given the timescale) she will have to pay.

It is obvious that the most vulnerable of the women, or girls, who find themselves in this situation will not have the resources needed to deal with the obstacles set up. Precisely those women who are least able to deal with an unwanted pregnancy are those who are least able to arrange a trip to London or Paris as the obvious course of action.

The only positive side of this proposed legislation is that it is so blatantly insane, and so undemocratic in that it has to be a tiny minority of male religious fanatics that want it, that it will backfire and this crowd of arseholes will lose the next election because of it.

[Prof]

The only positive side of this proposed legislation is that it is so blatantly insane, and so undemocratic in that it has to be a tiny minority of male religious fanatics that want it, that it will backfire and this crowd of arseholes will lose the next election because of it.

Exactly. The whole point is that God disapproves of abortion.
And the Catholic Church actually excommunicates people who do it.

So, if this small parasitic elite are in a position to issue royal decrees and bypass any democratic accountability to impose their minority beliefs on the nation . . . . then God will be happy with them and they can be assured of retaining their privileged positions even when this world is rid of them.

But I don't see it as positively as you because if they then lose the next election, although the other ones might differ on this point, they are still members of the very same undemocratic parasitic elite; it's the same club. And this act of insanity will simply distract people from the less dramatic matters of consequence. This whole episode will bring Spanish politics down to this level . . . vote for us, We won't do anything to change anything, but we're not as mad as them.