ABC, 19 October 2009

Anti-abortion activists take to streets

Published on 19 October 2009 at 14:17
ABC, 19 October 2009

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"The protesters weren't a bunch of reactionaries, neither were they acting under the orders of bishops", writes the conservative daily ABC, in the wake of the 17 October rally in Madrid. A demonstration against the changing of the 1985 abortion law, which involved hundreds of thousand of people (250,000 according to police, 1.2 million according to organizers). Controversy over abortion has engulfed Spain ever since the government tabled its reform plan, including authorizing girls over 16 to terminate their pregnancies without their parents' knowledge, as well as introducing abortion on demand before 14 weeks. According to El Mundo, debate over the reform is marked by "an absence of a search for consensus", yielding "a partial law, unacceptable for millions of Spaniards", which explains why the head of the government, José Luis Zapatero, "must heed to the hue and cry in the streets and conclude agreements, so that the greatest majority of the country's citizens feel close to this law". El Pais expresses surprise at the "massive presence of leaders from the right-wing opposition at the protest, and the "amnesia" they demonstrate, after failing to modfiy the law during the eight years they were in power.

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