Spanish Populists Call For More Pro-Family Policy, Less Promoting Abortion

A member of the Spanish populist party VOX in the region of Andalusia has called for more pro-family policies and for the government to promote abortion less.

Mercedes Rodríguez Tamayo, who serves as a deputy in the Andalusia regional parliament, slammed the government for trivializing abortion and the approval of a law she said eliminates the ability of a woman to reflect on whether or not she wants to proceed with an abortion.

“From the beginning of human gestation there is life, and human life embodies a central value of our constitutional order,” Tamayo said.

“Women do not need to be protected, we are perfectly qualified to, before an offer of information, say yes or no,” Tamayo said and added, “abortions already account for one in four births and will soon exceed this proportion.”

Tamayo’s remarks come after Spain’s socialist-led government moved to amend the country’s abortion law to prevent regions from implementing pro-life policies that may sway women away from going ahead with an abortion.

This came after VOX in Castille and León proposed pro-life policies, including allowing women to hear the heartbeat of their child prior to going through with an abortion, one measure among several that were completely voluntary.

Ms Tamayo praised the policies put forward in Castille and León, saying they were “common sense measures, which seek to inform women in that difficult dilemma.”

“On abortion only what the left wants is said,” Tamayo said and added that the left tried to muzzle pro-life groups and stated that those engaging in abortions “cause 90,000 sufferings a year, “which “is clearly a failure of society to which politicians must react sensibly and putting life in the foreground.”

Instead, Tamayo proposed the government should enact more pro-family policies, including economic aid for pregnant women and mothers, stating that everything was directed toward abortion and not toward mothers.

“We will continue to propose and approve measures to promote birth to reverse the demographic winter in which we are immersed, support families to reduce the maternity gap and prevent women from having to delay and even reject the moment of being mothers due to the economic and working conditions that prevent us, and measures to help young people start a family,” she said.

VOX leader Santiago Sabascal spoke out about demographic issues last year during a rally in Salamanca, calling for policies to increase Spain’s birth rate, which hasn’t sat at replacement levels since the 1980s.

“We want to repopulate Spain with Spaniards and we welcome anyone who comes to live with us, as long as they do so legally, asking for permission to raise Spain with us because Spain is also a welcoming country but we want the laws, our culture and our way of life to be respected,” he said.

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