Spanish protesters in call to suspend new abortion law
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Madrid today to ask the country’s highest court to suspend a new law allowing unrestricted abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
The law will also allow 16 and 17-year-olds to have abortions without their parents’ consent, although parents would have to be informed.
The law is due to take effect on Monday but the Constitutional Court has agreed to hear an appeal lodged in June by the conservative opposition Popular Party which holds it to be unconstitutional.
“The latest polls all show that more than 50% of Spaniards are against the new law,” said protest spokeswoman Cristina Lopez.
The law, approved in February, is the latest measure undertaken by a Socialist government that took power in 2004 and has brought traditionally Catholic Spain more in line with its secular, northern European neighbours.
