The Spanish government prepared draft legislation to severely limit women’s rights to abortion. It was withdrawn on 23 September 2014. The bill introduced by the Minister of Justice, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, originally sought to decriminalise abortion only under certain specific conditions, e.g. in case of rape or major risk to the mother’s health. The adoption of the bill would have seriously set back women’s rights in Spain.
The decision of the Head of Government, Mariano Rajoy, to drop this regressive bill is an immense victory for all the men and women who have been fighting its adoption for more than a year, and for all women.
In a joint appeal published last January, FIDH and its Spanish member organisation APDHE, call upon the Spanish government to abandon this draft legislation.
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