SW News: A host of pro-life and pro-family organizations in Spain are joining hands to prepare for a mammoth demonstration in the capital Madrid on June 26 at noon against the socialist government’s promotion of the death culture. Their proposed agitation comes against the backdrop of the Council of Ministers approving the reform of a 2010 pro-abortion law on Tuesday, May 17.

The Assembly of Associations for Life, Dignity and Liberty, which is an umbrella organization that embraces 150 outfits; the Catholic Association of Propagandists, Christian Association in Democracy, Foro Espanol de la Familia, Fundacion Villacisneros, NEOS and Every Life Matters are some of the organizations that are planning to protest against the new law. They have appealed to believers and people of goodwill to mobilize support for the defence of the unborn. The reform of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy law was approved by ministers and it broadens access to abortion. It allows minor girls under 16 and 17 to terminate the pregnancy without the consent of their parents. The new law also does away with the three-day reflection period for a mother before she undergoes an abortion.

After the ministers passed the new law, the spokesperson for the Spanish episcopal conference Bishop Luis Arguello, the auxiliary of Valladolid, said, “The defense and promotion of life is one of the sources of civilization. It is one of the red lines that express the moral health, the hope of a people to defend and promote life.” The prelate also said that advances in science affirm that within a pregnant woman there is a new life that needs to be cared for, welcomed and defended. He slammed the abortion law, saying that it “defends the right of the strong over the weak, in eliminating a new and different life that exists in the mother’s womb.”

Demanding an end to the culture of death promoted by the government, the associations have come out with a manifesto in which they have explained their objective: defending human life in all its stages, from conception to natural death. They have also stated their opposition to euthanasia, assisted suicide, and experimentation with human fetuses. The pro-life and Christian organizations also made it clear that removing parental authority is “totally unacceptable and dangerous”.

In the manifesto, they also demanded that the government stop its totalitarian social engineering project that is manifest in its legislation and parliamentary practice. They also seek the “absolute rejection of the new abortion regulation reform that was passed without waiting for the Constitutional Court's decision on current regulations”. The new curbs that limit the right to conscientious objection have also been slammed by the outfits. Spain is already tightening the curbs on pro-life outfits by penalizing those who pray or offer counselling in front of abortion facilities.

The amended legislation will now be processed in courts, said Minister of Equality Irene Montero. In the coming weeks, the Cortes will be presented with the text of the law and they will make a ruling, which is expected to be quicker.