Spain Abandons Plan to Ban Abortion

Good news: the Spanish government has withdrawn a bill that would have made abortion illegal except in cases of rape or threat to the mother’s health. Had the law taken effect, it would have been one of the harshest abortion restrictions in all of Europe.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy — who had made it a campaign promise to erode women’s reproductive agency by passing this terrible law — said that the government failed to reach consensus on the matter. “As president of the government I have taken the most sensible decision,” he told reporters at a press conference in Madrid. “We can’t have a law that will be changed when another government comes in.”

The population was pretty much unified in hating the bill: polls this year showed that as many as 80 percent of Spaniards opposed it. (Like a lot of strict anti-choice bullshit, it was actually even more severe than it sounds — as Newsweek reported originally, under the law, any woman who wished to terminate her pregnancy because her health was at risk would have to “find two doctors unaffiliated with her abortion-provider who are willing to swear the fetus poses a threat to the mother’s health” and endure a week-long waiting period to reflect upon whether abortion was truly the right choice.)

“This is good news for Spanish society and women,” said Isabel Serrano, a spokeswoman for pro-choice organization Decidir Nos Hace Libres. “The law was out of touch with reality and the will of Spaniards, as well as with the European context in which we live.” Yep. Pretty much.

Of course, the rabid anti-choice crowd is furious that women’s health and reproductive freedom will no longer be put at immense risk for the sake of the unborn. Justice Minister Alberto Ruíz Gallardon resigned in protest hours after the prime minister’s statement, and a spokeswoman for Right to Life announced that “there will be many more protests in the street.” ‘Kay, have fun with that — your insane and oppressive views are so unpopular that not even conservative politicians can feasibly support them, but you enjoy yourselves in the street!