SPAIN has moved to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right in a landmark reform, as the left-wing government races to shield access from any future rollback by its political rivals.
Ministers on Tuesday signed off on a proposed constitutional amendment that – if it clears both parliament and the senate – would oblige all public authorities to guarantee access to voluntary abortion.
The reform, which officials say would put Spain ‘at the forefront of women’s rights protection in Europe,’ comes amid growing concern within the government that conservative parties like the Partido Popular (PP) or Vox could seek to curb current access in the years ahead.
READ MORE: Spain’s Pedro Sanchez moves to make abortion a constitutional right
Equality Minister Ana Redondo said: “The real, effective exercise of this right is at risk across the country.
“Where a woman lives can determine whether she’s treated as first- or second-class,” she added.
At present, Spain’s autonomous communities have wide discretion over how abortion services are provided, as healthcare is largely devolved.
In conservative-led Madrid and Andalucia, fewer than 1% of procedures are currently carried out in public centres.
The reform would curb that flexibility by enshrining the right in the constitution, requiring all regions to guarantee consistent access nationwide.
The proposed amendment will need a three-fifths majority in both chambers of parliament to pass – a high bar that could prove difficult to clear.
READ MORE: Backlash in Madrid as Vox pushes ‘pseudoscience warnings’ on women seeking an abortion
The conservative PP has already said it will vote against the reform, though Redondo insisted the government will still try to win them over.
Prime minister Pedro Sanchez first floated the idea of making abortion a part of the nation’s constitution in October last year.
The suggestion had been made just days after a bitter political row broke out in Madrid over a proposal backed by the PP and Vox which would have required women considering an abortion to be made aware of so-called ‘post-abortion depression’ – a pseudo-scientific syndrome with no medical backing.
In response, Sanchez had said: “We are going to prevent the provision of misleading or anti-scientific information about abortion […] and bring to parliament a proposal to constitutionalise the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy, in line with the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court.”
READ MORE: Abortions in Spain rose by 3% in 2024 with women under 20 accounting for a tenth of terminations
Currently, abortion in Spain is legal upon request up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, and at later stages in cases of risk to the life or health of the women or serious fetal defects.
Abortion was briefly liberalised during the 1930s under the Second Spanish Republic before reforms were reversed during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
The procedure was decriminalised 40 years ago under the premiership of socialist Felipe Gonzalez, before further reforms were passed in 2010 under Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
In 2024, the number of abortions in Spain rose by around 3% to 106,172.
Women aged under 20 accounted for nearly 11% of terminations.
The abortion rate currently stands at 12.36 per 1,000 women aged between 15 and 44 years of age.
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