Date: 24 February 2010
Source: Associated Press

A Spanish abortion bill has been given final approval in the Senate and will take effect in June 2010. The bill decriminalises abortion and allows it without restrictions up to 14 weeks, and up to 22 weeks if two doctors certify there is a serious threat to the mother's health, or fetal malformation. After 22 weeks, an abortion may only be done for lethal or extremely grave fetal indications. The vote on the bill by lawmakers in December 2009 was 184 in favour, 158 against and 1 abstention. Under the previous law which dates from 1985, Spanish women could in theory go to jail for getting an abortion outside certain strict limits - up to week 12 in case of rape and week 22 if the fetus is malformed. But abortion has been in effect widely available because women can assert mental distress as grounds for having an abortion, regardless of how late the pregnancy is. The new bill may be problematic for women who are unable to get abortions early in pregnancy and for the small group of women unable to get abortions in the few other European countries where it is legal up to but not after 24 weeks, except to save the woman's life or with grave fetal anomaly. So the bill is not a total victory for women. One controversial aspect is that the bill allows 16- and 17-year-olds to have abortions without parental consent, as in Germany, Britain and France, although minors must inform their parents unless doing so would cause serious problems for them such as family violence or coercion. Abortion reform was the last major pending issue by Socialist Prime Minister Zapatero, who took power in 2004. Under him Spain has also legalised gay marriage and made it easier for Spaniards to divorce.