Under the new law, expectant parents in Madrid will be able to apply for certain benefits linked to household size before their baby is born. Large-family benefits that normally begin with the birth of a third child will also be available to families with two children after the 14th week of pregnancy.
Alfonso Serrano, secretary-general of the PP in Madrid, said that his party “believes that the more births there are, the better, in Spain and in Madrid, and so we are incentivizing them” by making more financial support available.
“Our social services, our pensions, depend on our national demographics, and you can’t solve that with immigration alone,” he said.
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the PP’s national leader, said shortly after the law was passed on July 2 that he would extend it to all of Spain’s 17 regions if he becomes prime minister. “When a woman is expecting a child, that must be reflected in public sector support,” he said.
But women’s organizations and parties on the left allege that the PP is promoting an anti-abortion agenda by counting a pregnancy toward benefit eligibility.
Yolanda Besteiro, president of the Federation of Progressive Women, said the move “implies an attempt to control women’s bodies and, under the cover of the argument of protecting the conceived child, reducing or eliminating rights linked to abortion.”
