Spain’s parliament this Thursday passed in a final vote the law that aims to guarantee access to voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG) in public hospitals and establishes sick leave for painful and disabling periods.
In the case of abortion, the revision of the Law “On Sexual and Reproductive Health and Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy” aims to remove the obstacles that currently limit in practice the practice of IVG in public hospitals in Spain, by regulating, among other things things, the exercise of conscientious objection by health professionals.
“The vast majority” of IVGs in Spain, 78.04%, were performed in private clinics and hospitals in 2020, with regions where “no voluntary termination of pregnancy has been registered in recent years,” according to the introductory text of the revision of the law that is due today has been approved.
To overcome this obstacle, the new law – an initiative of the government, a coalition of the Socialist Party (PSOE) with the far-left platform Unidas Podemos – is notes that all health workers declare in writing whether or not they are conscientious objectors and that this declaration is valid both when working in the public service and in private clinics.
Depending on the declarations of conscientious objection, the regional governments, which oversee health in Spain, must then ensure that doctors and nurses are always available in public hospitals so that a woman can access IVG in her area of residence.
The new legislation also ends the mandatory three-day reflection period for women requesting IVG and increases access to the so-called morning-after pill, both with greater free availability in certain health and social services, and greater co- payment.
On the other hand, 16- and 17-year-old girls can again access IVG without parental consent, as was already the case before an amendment to the abortion law by Popular Party Governments (PP, right), in 2015.
The new law also establishes a set of rights related to “menstrual health”, with measures considered unprecedented in Europe, such as the right of women to medical leave, paid in full by social security, of up to five days, for “painful and disabling “menstruations”.
Menstrual hygiene products will also be distributed in schools, social centers or prisons, to fight “menstrual poverty”, as the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, one of the leaders of the Podemos party, used in parliament today.
“Today is a historic day in advancing feminist rights,” the Equality Minister wrote on Twitter.
Today is a historic day of progress in feminist rights: the new Ley del Aborto and the Ley Trans and LGTBI rights become law ️⚧️ pic.twitter.com/tcW0kGheTT
– Irene Montero (@IreneMontero) February 16, 2023
Safe and public abortion so as not to die. Contraceptives so as not to break down. Comprehensive sex education to decide pic.twitter.com/IQjwdyYfc1
– Irene Montero (@IreneMontero) February 16, 2023
The revision of the Spanish abortion law was approved with the votes of 185 deputies and the opposition of 154, including right-wing and far-right MPs (PP and Vox).
Deputy María González Vázquez, from the PP, criticized all the changes introduced regarding abortion, deeming the revision “unnecessary” and “inappropriate”, in particular criticizing the end of the three mandatory days of reflection, that women no longer receive mandatory information on supports “and alternatives” and that young people under the age of 16 and 17 are not dependent on their parents to access IVG.
VOX, on the other hand, is in principle against abortion at the request of the woman.
During the legislative process in parliament in recent weeks, the law finally included a new provision to ban anti-abortion measures, such as those recently announced by the region of Castile and León.
This regional executive, the only government in Spain to include the far right, announced via VOX that it would allow women seeking an abortion in the region to hear “the baby’s heartbeat” and to place the fetus in a 4D view. ultrasound.
The new abortion protocol in Castile and León has not progressed so far, after weeks of criticism from associations, doctors and most Spanish parties, including the PP, VOX’s coalition partner in the region.
A law has been passed that allows gender reassignment without medical advice
Also this Thursday, Spain’s “trans law” was finally approved in parliament, allowing you to change gender in the registry office without medical reports.
The “law for the real and effective equality of transgender people” allows you to change sex from the age of 12 in the civil registry of Spain without a doctor’s advice.
It will be permission from a judge is required for cases between 12 and 14 years old and from parents or legal guardians between 14 and 16 years old, but for those over 16 years old, the will of those who wish to change their sex is sufficient.
In all cases, medical advice and proof of hormonal treatment are no longer necessary to remove the burden of the pathology of sex reassignment.
“Trans people [transexuais] they are who they are”, without having to “ask everyone for permission or an apology”, and it is up to the state to recognize their rights, Equality Minister Irene Montero said at the end of the parliamentary debate.
The new legislation took more than a year to pass, dividing the Socialist Party (PSOE), which rules Spain, in a coalition with the far-left platform Unidas Podemos, of which Irene Montero is a member.
The law was opposed by feminist associations who, like the critical wing of the PSOE, believed it could harm women’s progress in the fight for equal rights.
For these movements, being a woman is not a subjective identity and feminism is the fight against discrimination against an objective identity based on biological sex.
Criticism, again heard today by the People’s Party (PP, right) and Citizens (Liberals) deputies, also includes warnings about the new legislation’s lack of “legal certainty”, as has happened in other countries, such as Scotland , which are now pushing back or blocking similar laws.
For example, the case referred to today in the Spanish Parliament of a man convicted in Scotland of two rapes of women, who changed sex and was therefore entitled to serve his sentence in women’s prisons.
But there is also, say these critical voices, the opportunity for men to compete alongside women in sports competitions or to present themselves in competitions that require physical proof for selection and have different standards for male and female candidates.
The warnings also address problems with the application of gender violence laws or quotas in electoral laws.
Minister Irene Montero returned today to consider that “trans women are women, period” and spoke of “transphobia” during the debate.
The deputies of the various parliamentary groups defending the law in parliament today stressed that what is at stake is the recognition and extension of rights in Spain and the non-discrimination of a group of stigmatized people by a law that is neither divided nor created “to no one”.
The PP and Cidadãos today underlined their support for a law that recognizes and protects the rights of transsexuals, but felt that there was no sufficiently calm and sustainable legislative process in the Spanish Parliament to allow for all the necessary debates and hearings and, therefore, lacks the law “legal certainty”.
The PP faction even called on the benches of the governing parties to withdraw the initiative and avoid the final vote so that “a good law” could be passed.
The extreme right of the VOX party also opposed the new law, calling it “delusional” and a “promotion of homosexuality and transsexuality” at a time when there is “an alarming rise in homosexuality and transsexuality” in Spain. that the state should promote the “reconciliation of people with their bodies” and not “irreversible mutilation” through hormonal treatments and surgery.
Minister Irene Montero responded that the law “exactly decouples” recognition of gender identity from medical treatment and condemned “the lies and rumors” of VOX, which incite “hate speech” against groups of people they consider abnormal or sick. .
The law passed today bans genital modification surgeries up to the age of 12 on children born with physical characteristics of both sexes (intersex or hermaphroditic children).
On the other hand, enshrines the right of lesbian, bisexual and transgender women with reproductive potential to access medically assisted reproductive technologies and allows the descent of children from lesbian and bisexual mothers without the need for marriage.
Source: DN
