Vox Committed To Blocking Access To Abortion And Euthanasia In Madrid

FAR-RIGHT Vox commits to blocking access to abortion and euthanasia in Madrid.

Far-right Vox commits to blocking access to abortion and euthanasia in Madrid. As reported in El Pais, the far-right Spanish party has said it will commit to a series of demands made by the ultraconservative Catholic organisation Hazte Oír (Make Yourself Heard) ahead of the Madrid regional elections on March 4. The six demands include blocking access to the right of abortion and euthanasia, and also repealing regional laws that protect people against discrimination because of their sexual orientation.

Rocío Monasterio, a Vox candidate, has backed the far-right agenda. The catholic lobby also wants women who are thinking about abortion to be asked if they would like to hear the heartbeat of the foetus. This is a controversial practice that Gádor Joya, Vox deputy, has been demonstrating already outside of abortion clinics throughout the region.

Hazte Oír is also calling for a repeal of all of the regional laws that give protection to LGBTQ+ people against discrimination. This would mean an end to the ban on “conversion therapy”, which aims to treat homosexuality as a disease that can be cured. These practices were banned by the very laws that Hazte Oír wants repealing.

Whilst the legislation for abortion falls to the central government, the regions control how the law is carried out in practice, hence why eight Spanish provinces – Teruel, Ávila, Palencia, Segovia, Zamora, Cuenca, Toledo and Cáceres – have not carried out abortions in three decades.

This is similar for Spain’s recently approved euthanasia law. Under the legislation, the decision on whether a patient’s request for assisted suicide is approved is made by a commission whose members are determined by each region.

A medical expert on the subject warned: “If you fill this commission with members of [ultraconservative Catholic group] Opus Dei, the entire process will turn into a trial, making it unviable,

“Almost any right that is recognized on a state level can be blocked until it is annulled on a regional level,” they added.