Right of the woman to decide on her maternity or the protection of the life of the unborn. This was the main axis of the debate in the Constitutional Court to decide if the 2010 abortion law promoted by the Government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero is fully constitutional.
During the debate, which lasted two days, these two theses were put forward and the first one finally won, supported by the progressive majority. These seven magistrates defended that the conflict must be approached based on the rights of women to decide on maternity.
This thesis is contrary to the one raised by the rapporteur, Enrique Arnaldo, and supported by the other three conservative magistrates. They defend that the law must be studied based on the 1985 ruling on the protection of the life of the unborn.
Before the progressive majority, the draft sentence that promoted the unconstitutionality of the way of development of the right to information that should be provided to the woman who wants to terminate the pregnancy did not finally go ahead.
The majority have not accepted to make conforming interpretations of the mention of health and the possible inclusion of social health in the information that the doctor must dispense or in the issue of conscientious objection to extend to all health workers who participate in the process. both before and after the abortion.
Arnaldo refused to modify his presentation, so he has given it up. The vice president, Inmaculada Montalbán, will be in charge of writing a draft sentence that puts the constitutionality of the law black on white for its voting and final approval.
Yesterday's decision was a first step to unblock the appeal against the abortion law that had been sitting in a drawer for thirteen years, which was undermining the body's credibility. The underlying debate was not so controversial as to have been buried for more than a decade. In fact, the speaker only showed doubts about the unconstitutionality of one of the articles of the law.
Nor has the PP been proactive. It was the popular ones who appealed the law in 2010 but later did not revoke the rule when Mariano Rajoy came to the Government in 2011. His Minister of Justice Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón championed a reform of the abortion law, much more restrictive, which was finally withdrawn by the president, which caused his dismissal due to such disavowal.
Cándido Conde-Pumpido was clear that this issue should be one of the first to be resolved when he became president. of the organ on January 11.
Within the Constitutional Court, different conservative presidents refused to take to the plenary session first the favorable presentation of Elisa Pérez Vera's law and then that of Andrés Ollero -who openly supported the appeal- for fear of creating an internal conflict. The years went by, and the matter remained entrenched until now.
In fact, the decision of the TC does not pose any problem to the current PP, at least to its leader Alberto Núñez-Feijóo, who yesterday assured that "in current Spain, a law of deadlines is correct and constitutional." The president of the 'populares' what he does not understand is that the body takes more than ten years to see the appeal, because "the content of the law is taken out of context", and "the feeling and sensitivity of the Spanish people" varies.
For Núñez-Feijóo "a well-constructed deadline law" is, in general terms, constitutional and "deserves my respect." Another thing is that the PP does not agree with some aspect, such as that minors between 16 and 18 years of age do not need parental consent.
