Spain’s Socialist Government Legalizes Abortions for 16 Year Old Girls

The Spanish Government has formally unveiled plans to liberalize the country’s abortion law. Under the proposal, approved by the cabinet, abortion would be made available on demand for the first time.

Girls as young as 16 would be allowed to have an abortion without parental consent.

The existing abortion law in Spain was passed in 1985 under another socialist government. On paper, it appears strict. Spain’s current law allows abortions under three circumstances – in the aftermath of a rape, when a foetus shows genetic defects, and when the health of the mother is at risk.

In practice, however, many Spanish women have been able to secure abortions by arguing that pregnancy was endangering their mental health.

The socialist government’s proposal is that abortion should be made available on demand during the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy.

This measure has been promoted by President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who met with President Obama last week and will visit the White House on October 13.

The opposition has vowed to challenge the bill, arguing that it does not have broad support in Spanish society.

The Catholic Church also opposes any change to the law, and has called on its followers to join an anti-abortion rally in Madrid next month.

This is the latest ideological clash between Spain’s society and a radical left-wing government, which has already legalized gay marriage and made it easier to get divorced.

This abortion law, together with substantial tax increases for the Spanish tax-payers, comes after Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero´s visit to the UN General Assembly.

During his visit, Zapatero was in for a rude awakening if he thought that 16-year-old girls should be allowed to abort babies, but his own daughter -also 16-should not appear in a public photograph released by the U.S. Department of State.

Zapatero brought his wife and two daughters along on his trip to New York for the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, and on Wednesday he and his family posed for a photograph with President Obama at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The photo caused a huge stir in Spain because the public had never before seen an image of its leader’s children, ages 13 and 16, who appeared in the photograph sporting gothic attire.

The photo, credited in the Spanish press to White House photographer Lawrence Jackson, was posted on the State Department Flickr site, according to sources.

The photograph of the Socialist leader’s family appeared in several Spanish news outlets and websites.

After a request by the Spanish government, the White House removed the photograph from the State Department website. But it was too late. Many Spanish in-boxes today were flooded with a series of E-mails with the photograph—obviously altered—depicting the two teens as members of the Addams Family, the band KISS, and J. R. R. Tolkien’s troll-like Orcs.

Zapatero should understand that if a Spanish girl can legally abort a baby at 16, his own daughter -also 16- should also be able to appear publically in an official photograph realeased by the U.S. Department of State.

The Americano/Agencies

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