Socialist Spain to Ban Regional Govts from Enacting Pro-Life Policies

The Equality Commission of the Spanish Senate has approved amending the country’s abortion law to prevent regions from implementing pro-life policies that may sway women from getting abortions.

The Spanish Senate committee approved the new amendments which aim to force regions not to enact any policies that would discourage or delay the willingness of a pregnant woman to procure an abortion, wit the support of the supposedly centre-right People’s Party as well as left-wing parties.

The move comes after the populist VOX party in the region of Castille and León attempted to implement pro-life policies, which included the option — although not an obligation — for pregnant women to listen to the heartbeat of their unborn child before making a decision, the newspaper El Mundo reports.

According to the amendment,  “competent public administrations” are ordered not to interfere in the procurement of abortions and must “prevent the applicant from being the recipient of practices that seek to alter, either to secure, revoke or to delay, the formation of her will on the interruption or not of her pregnancy, the communication of her decision and the implementation of it, with the exception of essential and relevant clinical information.”

“Diagnostic and therapeutic interventions associated with the decision and practice of termination of pregnancy should be based, in any case, on scientific evidence,” the amendment states.

Spain’s ruling leftist Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and its leftist allies Podemos have sought to bring down barriers to abortion since May of last year, including allowing minors 16 and over to seek abortions without parental permission.

“Just as they are responsible for working or for having sex, they are responsible for deciding about their bodies,” Spanish Minister of Equality Irene Montero insisted.

“We cannot accept that young women are left out who find it very difficult to tell their parents that they are pregnant and that they want to terminate their pregnancies, especially those who are victims of sexual violence in their family environment,” she added.

Spain has also outlawed protests outside abortion clinics if the protestors are deemed to be annoying those seeking an abortion, with violators potentially facing a year in prison.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.