Minister resigns over abortion law

MADRID – Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, now ex-Minister of Justice and well on the right wing of the Partido Popular (PP), resigned last week in an effort by Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, and party leader, to place the party nearer the centre. Gallardón’s resignation was caused by Rajoy’s decision to remove a reformed abortion law and return to minimal changes in its current version. Gallardón’s place will be taken temporarily by Vice-President Soraya Sáenz de Santa María and later by Rafael Catalá, at present the Secretary of State for Infrastructure, Transport and Housing, whose appointment was announced on Wednesday.

The PP’s electoral positioning coincides with preparations for national, regional and local elections next year. Without opposition on the Right, the party is looking to a return to the centre – and one of the clearest indications of this is to remove major changes to the abortion law, which was roundly rejected by public opinion.

The only change to be made now is the obligation of parental permission to abort for girls of 16 and 17. This puts aside the previous ‘white paper’ on the subject, which threw the law back some thirty years by derogating present legislation and therefore the right of a woman to have an abortion during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, without offering a reason. [An article on Spain’s abortion law is in preparation. Watch this space.]