Kirsty Mckenzie
THE Spanish Government says it wants to change the law to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to seek an abortion without parental permission.
Politicians have been debating changes to the country’s abortion laws as ministers seek to repeal a 2015 bill that made parental consent for those aged between 16 and 18 mandatory.
Equality Minister Irene Montero said women should have the right to ‘decide about their bodies’.
Abortion is legal in Spain in the first 14 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy.
It was first legalised in 1985 in cases of rape, or when the life of the mother was at risk and it wasn’t until 2010 that the law extended abortion rights to any woman until 14 weeks of gestation.
In 2015, the ruling Popular Party (PP) changed Spain’s abortion laws and established the obligation of parental consent in the case of girls between 16 and 18-years-old who wanted to end their pregnancy.
Montero, a member of the left wing party Unidas Podemos, told Spain’s lower house of parliament that the reform was “more than necessary”.
She added that other measures would be introduced, including a greater focus on sex education which she described as a “vaccine” in the fight against gender violence.
The law change would also include the right to the “newest forms” of contraception, the minister told a parliamentary commission.
For the appeal to be approved however Montero will first have to submit the proposals to the public then negotiate the details with the country’s ministry of health.
An absolute majority of the Congress of Deputies – 177 or more votes in the 350 set chamber – be then be needed to approve it.
Currently, the coalition government does not have an absolute majority and the far-right party Vox has already said it will not support the proposal.
