The new abortion law has taken another step for its approval this Tuesday: it has left the Council of Ministers to be sent to Congress, where the parliamentary groups must debate it, and from there it will go to the Senate. The objective of the Executive from the beginning of the reform of this norm is that it be approved before the end of the legislature. And they have accelerated. The arrival at the lower house will be without the mandatory reports of the Fiscal Council and the General Council of the Judiciary, which have not met the deadlines set by law to send their opinions. But this non-compliance, said the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, cannot “limit or paralyze the processing” of this law with “two great pillars”: the public network as a reference for the voluntary interruption of pregnancy and the guarantee of an education at all stages of compulsory education.
In a press conference after the Council of Ministers, Montero recalled that sex education is the “recognition of sexual and reproductive rights” of girls and boys and access to that right also has to do with the law of only if it is yes, approved last Thursday: “We are profoundly transforming [las políticas de Estado]and creating a feminist architecture to be able to move towards another sexual culture, based on consent and sexual freedom for all women”.
This education will be compulsory in all educational stages: “To know our bodies, to know contraceptives that are not only the responsibility of women, to combat violence or practices such as the withdrawal of condoms, and stop sexually transmitted diseases.” “Almost 70%” of young people, according to the minister with data from various studies, assure that the education and information “that they have received has not been useful, and that the Internet and friends are the main sources of information. The learning of sexuality takes place with or without support, and this feminist government wants to ensure a right that allows them to know their bodies and their rights and build relationships based on consent and good treatment.
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Thus, the reform of this norm returns the capacity of autonomous decision to abort to women of 16 and 17 years of age and those with a disability, it is aimed at guaranteeing access from the public health system —”therefore, ending the current obstacles in that access” for many women, Montero has clarified, introduces menstrual health and comprehensive sexual education as a right in all educational stages. And it has also undergone some changes in recent months, non-substantial, such as the modification of regulations so that temporary incapacities due to incapacitating menstruation and pre-delivery are extended to officials of the Armed Forces and Justice or to maximize guarantees in terms of data protection. relating to the registration of conscientious objectors.
The Executive argues that this urgent need to cover these rights has led it to continue with the legislative process without waiting for the reports of the advisory bodies. “What we cannot do is limit or paralyze the processing of a law that allows us to guarantee a fundamental right of women, such as the right to decide on our own body, because the General Council of the Judiciary has decided not to do its job, and I insist, not complying with the deadlines established in the Organic Law of the Judiciary, which clearly indicates what they are to issue the reports on the laws that the executive branch sends them”, Montero specified in an interview on RNE the morning of this Tuesday.
That temporary margin is a “non-extendable term” of 30 days; 15, if the Executive urgently requested its processing, according to the legislation. And, “when a report has not been issued within the periods established in the previous section, said procedure will be deemed to have been completed”. However, Montero added, when they are issued, “they will be incorporated into the file.” The Government sent the text to the in May.
Now, the Government’s idea is to shield a norm that has already gone through two reforms after the legalization in 1985 of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in three cases. The first involved total decriminalization (until week 14) in the 2010 term law. The second was made by the PP in 2015 and limited the right of women with disabilities and raised the age to interrupt pregnancy without parental permission of the 16 to 18 years old. In the latter, the third, women aged 16 to 18 recover the autonomous decision (which included the 2010 rule for certain assumptions); and with this, the age to interrupt the pregnancy is equated to the clinical age for making medical decisions.
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Text changes
The text of the draft, whose economic calculation was calculated at 104 million euros, remains without profound changes. As explained by the Ministry of Equality, “the modifications” have been to “improve the text” with “the contributions of social entities, and are aimed at strengthening the decision-making capacity of women in all circumstances.” The ministry details some of those changes:
In article 27 a), the subsection “except in situations in which the life of the mother or the baby is at risk” is eliminated, in coherence with the Law of Patient Autonomy. “It has been an issue observed by social entities and improves the text by respecting even more the will of women.” That article of the preliminary draft, within Chapter II, Protection and guarantee of sexual and reproductive rights in the gynecological and obstetric field read as follows: “a) Mandatory require the free, prior and informed consent of women in all treatments invasive during childbirth care, except in situations in which the life of the mother or the baby is at risk, respecting the autonomy of women and their ability to make informed decisions about their reproductive health.” Article 145 bis is modified of the Penal Code that provided as a crime not delivering the envelope with information to the woman who wishes to abort, as well as not respecting the three days of reflection. “By eliminating them in the law we must also do it in the CP, in consistency”, they detail. Sectoral regulations are modified so that temporary incapacities due to incapacitating menstruation and pre-delivery are extended to officials of the Armed Forces and Justice. The training of professionals in the field of sexual and reproductive health in legal, health, education and social sciences careers and in the curricula of the oppositions linked to these. The guarantees in terms of data protection related to registration have been extreme. of conscientious objectors, adding a new fourth Additional Provision. A section has been added by which specialized comprehensive assistance services will be adapted to the needs of women with disabilities. A section has been added to guarantee assistance and support for mental health of women in case of perinatal death.