Politics
Wednesday March 1, 2000
See today's LifeSiteNews stories
SPAIN IN THE GRIP OF THE CULTURE OF DEATH
Abortion Rate Rises - 54,000 Babies Killed in 1998
MADRID, Mar 1 (LSN.ca) - Statistics released by Spain's Ministry of Health last month indicated that about 54,000 babies were killed by abortion in 1998. The numbers rose 8 per cent from 1997 but the rise is expected to be minimal compared with the 2000 figures since Spanish public hospitals and some private clinics began selling the deadly chemical abortion drug RU-486 (Mifegyne) in early February.
The moral decline in Spain began in the sixties when the birth rate of the once strongly Catholic country began to plummet. LifeSite reported in January that Spain now has the lowest birth rate in the world (1.07) as indicated by data released at the end of last year. The 1999 fecundity survey by the National Statistics Institute (INE) confirmed that, in the past 28 years, Spain's birth rate has halved. The INE report reveals that in university-educated women aged 25-34, the birth rate is only 0.33.
While the Catholic bishop's conference has issued a strong pro-life statement in preparation for the upcoming March 12 elections, neither of the main two parties includes any pro-life initiative. Spain allows abortion in cases of risk to the life, physical health, and mental health of the mother and also in cases of supposed fetal deformity.
With files from The Lancet (Feb 10 and 19) and HLI Hispanic Division
Back to TopSHARE THIS STORY: E-mail Print Newsvine Digg Reddit Del.icio.us Facebook
Latest Headlines
- Polls Indicate Frightened Canadian Public Turning Against Coalition Takeover Bid
- Study Shows Fertility Patients Want Frozen Embryonic Children Buried
- Planned Parenthood Suspends Employee Caught Covering Up Rape of 13-Year-Old
- Donate any Amount to LSN on Behalf of a Loved One and We Will Send Them a Beautiful Christmas Card!
- Grand Duke of Luxembourg Loses Veto Power After Threatening Veto of Euthanasia Law
- Vatican Archbishop Defends Rights of Parents to Educational Choice
- San Francisco Bishop Affirms Church's Role in Prop. 8, Calls for End to Disrespect
- Dutch Murder Case Following Late-Term Abortion in Spain Dropped
- Movie Reviewer for Catholic Bishops' Conference Praises Homosexualist Film - Again
- Purchase of Christmas Music CD By Pro-Life Priest is Great Way to Support LifeSiteNews
Most Read this Week
- Ad Showing Woman Seducing Santa Promotes Free Morning-After Pills and Condoms for Christmas
- Movie Reviewer for Catholic Bishops' Conference Praises Homosexualist Film - Again
- A Painful, Disease-Ridden Death Isn’t So Bad if You’re Just a White, Heterosexual Male
- Abortion Now Number One Cause of Death in Spain
- Catholic Bishop: "Go Right Ahead and Arrest Me" Rather than Obey Freedom of Choice Act
- God is Pro-Choice Says Nun
- UK Catholic Adoption Agencies Voluntarily Refuse Religious Opt-Out Clause for Homosexual Adoption
- University of Calgary Pro-Life Students Victorious - Administration Backs Down from Arrest Threats
- IKEA’s Polish Catalogue Introduces “Ian and Steve” as a Model of the New Family
- Shock: Evangelical Leader Believes in Gay Civil Unions, Says OK to Vote for Obama
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.