Large Anti-Abortion Rally Held in Spain

Demonstrators took to the street of the Spanish capital Madrid on Saturday to voice their opposition to plans by the government to reform the abortion laws in Spain.

The exact number of those taking part in the march, which had at its head an enormous banner which read "Every Life Matters" and featured others with messages such as "For Life, Women and Motherhood", "Women Against Abortion" and "Madrid 2009, Capital of Life", is unclear. According to AFP police have estimated that 250,000 people were in attendance, a much lower number than that claimed by one of the groups organizing the march, HazteOir (Make Yourself Heard), which has said that 1.5 million people took to the streets. The BBC reports that organizers have stated that the march was two million strong. Meanwhile Madrid's regional government has suggested that 1.2 million marched through the capital of Spain to protest at legislation due to be debated in parliament in November. Guided by laws in place in many other EU countries the legislation being proposed would allow all women aged 16 and over to obtain an abortion up to the 14th week of their pregnancy. A threat to the mother's health or a deformed fetus would permit an abortion up to 22 weeks. Evidence of the fetus having contracted a serious or incurable illness would allow an abortion beyond 22 weeks. At present the laws in Spain regarding abortion, the procedure was legalized in 1985, permit abortions up to the 12th week of pregnancy in the case of a rape victim, up to the 22nd week if a fetus is deformed and at any stage of a pregnancy if the mother's physical or mental welfare is threatened. Bibiana Aido, the Equality Minister in the socialist administration of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has been the main architect of the proposed legislation and she has spoken of her "total respect" for the demonstrators, who are said to be mainly members of the Roman Catholic church and/or supporters of the center-right in Spanish politics, whilst emphasizing that the decision to have an abortion is a difficult one that should not see a woman penalized for choosing to terminate her pregnancy. The BBC notes that the Spanish government has said that a woman considering an abortion will be told of all the alternatives to a termination that are available, state assistance for young mothers reportedly being one of the options. Opinion polls in Spain, where 112,000 abortions occurred during 2007, are apparently showing a slight majority in favor of retaining the current laws on abortion. Still a country in which more than three-quarters of the population identify themselves as Roman Catholic, Spain has seen the Church speaking out against many of the social reforms already introduced or planned by the government of Prime Minister Zapatero, which came to power in 2004. Those reforms, says AFP, relate to issues such as gay marriage, fast-track divorce and rights for transsexuals.