Spain: Sánchez vows to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution
Five weeks before the election, Spain’s prime minister has promised to write the right to abortion into the constitution. The trigger was remarks by PP leader Feijóo on abortion for 16-year-olds.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has announced that, if re-elected, he will enshrine the right to terminate a pregnancy in the constitution. At a pre-campaign event at the Congress Palace in Granada on Saturday, the Socialist told about 3,000 supporters, according to organisers, that he would also preserve the euthanasia law. The cabinet had already approved a corresponding draft amendment to Article 43 of the constitution in April, but it lapsed when the snap election was called.
The trigger was an interview given by opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo to the broadcaster Cadena SER. The head of the conservative People’s Party (PP) said that if a 16-year-old wanted to terminate a pregnancy, her parents should know about it, calling it a debate that needed to be had. Sánchez warned of cuts to social rights under a government of the PP and the far-right Vox and quipped: “Feijóo is the wrapping, but Abascal is the gift, and there are gifts that are not worth opening.”
Sánchez also promised to keep raising the minimum wage – “with or without an agreement with the employers’ association.” Spaniards elect a new parliament on Nov. 29.