The populist vice president of the Spanish region of Castille and León has announced pro-life measures designed to help women avoid seeking abortions.
Juan García-Gallardo, vice president of the government of Castille and León, a member of the populist party VOX, announced the new pro-life measures aimed at expectant mothers in order to reduce the likelihood they will seek an abortion.
Among the new measures are more access to psychological care, a policy to allow mothers to hear the heartbeat of their unborn child, and a new 4D ultrasound that displays images of their child in live-streaming video, the newspaper El Mundo reports.
Garcia-Gallardo stated that all of the new measures would be completely voluntary, however, saying: “She’s not going to be forced to listen to her baby’s heartbeat if she doesn’t want to.”
The vice president also noted that the region would not be setting up any blacklists of doctors who object to performing abortion procedures, and will respect their fundamental right to conscientious objection.
Garcia-Gallardo said that the new pro-life measures would be launched immediately, and that some techniques, such as showing the heartbeat of the baby, would be available in all hospitals in the region.
The new measures echo similar pro-life measures in Hungary that require that pregnant women seeking an abortion listen to the heartbeat of their child before making their final decision.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) welcomed the Hungarian government’s move, with a spokeswoman saying: “If mothers have the opportunity to hear the beating heart of their baby, they may reject abortion.”
The Castille and León measures go against the policies of the leftist national government in Madrid, however, which sought to allow minors to access abortions without the need for parental approval last year.
Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.
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