MADRID February 3, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s current front runner for the position of prime minister in 2012, has stated that he will seek the repeal of the country’s new abortion law that permits the deadly procedure on demand during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
Asked, “what are you going to do with [the abortion law] if you govern?”, in an interview with the El Mundo newspaper, Rajoy responded simply, “change it, return to the previous regulation, leave it like it was.”
The previous law allows abortion only in cases of rape, fetal deformity, or danger to a woman’s health. Following revelations of systematic medical fraud used to justify abortions under the previous legislation, the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE) responded by lifting restrictions during the first trimester and two weeks following. Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) argued in favor of enforcing the legislation rather than relaxing restrictions.
The PP is currently contesting the constitutionality of the law in the courts, but until now Rajoy has not stated that he would seek repeal of the law. His statement follows years of pressure by pro-life organizations and individuals, who threatened not to vote for the People’s Party if the candidate did not promise to repeal the law and other unpopular measures passed by the PSOE in recent years, which include homosexual “marriage.”
Rajoy also said that he would repeal Spain’s controversial “Education for Citizenship and Human Rights” program, which critics say forces parents to allow their children to be indoctrinated with homosexualist ideology.
Pro-life activists warmly received Rajoy’s newly-stated posture. “Since they began to interrupt pregnancies, more than one million babies have died in Spain. The declarations of Rajoy are a step forward but we want the change to be more profound, and to end abortion as a solution,” said Gadór Joya, spokesman of Right to Life.