The Other Battle in Europe
Abortion Attacks, Pro-Lifers Defend the Innocent

Steven Mosher
written by Carlos Beltramo
March 21, 2022
Reproduced with Permission
Population Research Institute

In Europe, events can happen quickly. We now have a war in Ukraine that a month ago we didn't expect. But not even a European war will stop abortion boosters from continuing their own perpetual war to expand the abortion agenda.

Less than a month ago, President Macron told the European Parliament that one of his goals was to invent a "right to abortion" for all of Europe. Although Macron is currently focused on how to deal with Putin and his aggression against Ukraine, the abortion promoters are pressing on.

Now that public attention is focused on the war, pro-abortion forces in France and Spain are going full speed ahead.

Vive La France... Unless You Are an Unborn Child!

On Wednesday, February 23, the French Parliament passed a law extending the legal time limit for free abortion - that is, for any cause - from 12 to 14 weeks. The vote leaves no doubt about the position of the French political class on abortion: 135 deputies voted in favor of the expansion of abortion and only 47 opposed it. In addition, the 48-hour waiting period (between the scheduling of an abortion to the date the abortion is performed) - a time that was the last chance for a woman's unborn child - was eliminated.

The promoters of the new law also sought to eliminate the right of conscientious objection for doctors and nurses. In the end, that change was not approved thanks to pressure from political groups opposed to Macron.

According to an official report from the Directorate of Statistics (DREES), 222,000 abortions were performed in France in 2020. This represents a decline of four percent from 2019, but we recall that 2019 saw the highest number of abortions among women from 20 to 29 years of age since the 1990s.

Spain's Most "Dangerous People" - Pro-Lifers!

On February fourth, Spain's Congress of Deputies passed a law to modify the Penal Code. The amendment criminalizes what the new language calls "harassment of women and abortion clinic workers." The law will now go to the Senate for final passage, but in Spain, the Senate routinely approves laws passed by the Congress of Deputies.

Once the law is implemented, those who demonstrate at the doors of abortion clinics or even approach women or clinic workers could receive a punishment of imprisonment from three months to one year, or, alternately, sentences of community service from 31 to 80 days.

The new law's text does not specifically mention the prohibition of prayer, but in practice, it will mean that a person praying the Rosary in front of an abortion clinic, or the "rescuers" whose efforts have saved the lives of thousands of children, could be taken to jail. By April, giving a woman a pamphlet vividly showing what an abortion does to a child could be a crime in Spain.

But there is more. Spain's socialist and communist government is preparing a reform of the abortion law to remove the few abortion restrictions that still remain. For instance, the 2015 abortion law prohibits the aborting the child of a sixteen-year-old girl without the permission of her parents. Spain's current government wants to remove that obstacle ... and many others.

Spain's government, like that of France, also intends to eliminate the requirement of a three-day waiting period between a mother's request for an appointment and the abortion itself. The abortion lobby does not want women to go home when they make an appointment for their abortion, they want to perform it immediately - before the distraught mother changes her mind.

The Spanish Government also wants every public hospital with a gynecology and obstetrics service to have on-staff doctors and nurses who can perform an abortion. This implies that in all hospitals there should be doctors who do will not claim a conscientious objection and refuse to perform abortions. This new provision would guarantee that the State would provide abortions to all women on request.

The abortion lobby seeks this change in the law because there are still public hospitals in Spain where abortions are not performed because all doctors on staff claim the right of conscientious objection, a fact that troubles Spain's Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, who belongs to the communist "Podemos" party.

Pro-Life Groups Are Not Intimidated... And They Are Growing.

Pro-life groups have not been intimidated. Since the passage of the law that criminalizes pro-life activity, the "40 Days For Life" prayer teams have multiplied in front of abortion mills all over the country. And in many cities where this apostolate did not exist, it has now been created: there are already twenty such cities in Spain. This apostolate is similar to the one that was founded in Texas in 2004.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Association of Propagandists (ACdP) has launched an advertising campaign in 33 cities that brought more than 250 posters in bus stops and subway stations, saying : "Praying In Front Of Abortion Clinics Is Terrific." These public testimonies have been seen by millions of Spaniards. The message? "Young People Won't Give Up!"

And the Population Research Institute's ally in Spain, HazteOir ("Listen Up!"), made the headlines on March 8. On the same day that feminists marched through the streets demanding more abortion, HazteOir inaugurated "el Refugio Provida" ("the Pro-life Refuge") in a building directly across from one of Madrid's most important abortion clinics.

"Who can use it? Mothers, pregnant women, rescuers, and you! Any pro-life person who wants help and needs it. The rescuers, in case the police want to do mess with them, also have a safe place in the Pro-Life Shelter," says Ignacio Arsuaga, president of HazteOir.

Clearly, the defenders of life from countless groups are on the move. They're not going to sit quietly on the sidelines in the face of a government that is bent on killing their children. It's a sign of hope to all Spaniards that young people are willing to stand up in defense of innocent lives.

Polonia Castellanos is a lawyer, activist, and president of Christian Lawyers , the group with the most legal cases in Spain in defense of life, and an ally of the Population Research Institute. In offering legal help to all pro-lifers who may need it, Polonia addressed with humor and firmness the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero: "Thank you Irene: there are a lot of us and there will be even more next time. Neither you nor anyone else will stop us from praying. Justice and peace are on our side."

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