Tougher Laws

The Spanish government recently 

backed a proposal for a 

tougher abortion law.

The bill says early termination is no longer a right, and would only be allowed in cases of rape or when the mother's health is at risk.

The current law gives women the right to abortion up to the 14th week of pregnancy, rising to 22 weeks in case of fetal deformities.

Pro-choice groups have pledged to stage protests against the change, which will be debated in parliament.

Spain's center-right government recently unveiled the proposal.

"We can't allow the life of the unborn baby to depend exclusively on the decision of the mother," Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon told reporters.

The move is almost certain to be passed into law because the governing Popular Party has a strong majority in Congress, the BBC's Guy Hedgecoe in Madrid reports.

Many supporters of the party are practicing Catholics, and Spain's Catholic Church has frequently spoken out to call for a similar law; but, the opposition Socialist Party warned the measure would send women into dangerous backstreet clinics for abortions.

Changes to the law have long been championed by Spain's Catholic church, an influential force in a country where more than 70% of the population say they are Catholic. Madrid's archbishop, Antonio María Rouco Varela, has called for an urgent reform of the 2010 law, saying it had "led to a rise in the number of abortions to terrifying levels".

It was an issue that helped propel the People's party into power, said Benigno Blanco, president of the Foro Español de la Familia. "Now it is time for the government to complete its electoral promises regarding this law. There is popular demand to do this."

Elena Valenciano, the deputy secretary general of Spain's Socialist party, spoke out against the Catholic church in April, accusing it of trying to diminish women's say over their own bodies.

Spanish protesters against government decision...

"And women, that is to say mothers, don't they have a word in this? Ministers, judges, bishops, scientists are going to decide what we should do with our motherhood. Yes, they know. We obey and shut up. Amen," she vented on her Facebook page.

Women's groups across the country echo her views. "This is a fight for control over women's bodies," said Yolanda Besteiro, president of the Federación de Mujeres Progresistas.

"For so many generations, so many Spanish women have fought for equality," she said. "They have had some tremendous successes, including a past government that counted as many female ministers as male. But now it seems like their fight was worth nothing."