Madrid, Spain, Jun 27, 2022 / 16:45 pm

More than 100,000 people turned out June 26 for Spain’s march for life in Madrid and to protest proposed changes to the country’s abortion law and other bills that violate human dignity.

The pro-life institutions NEOS; the Assembly of Associations for Life, Liberty, and Dignity; and the Every Life Matters Platform organized the march, which included more than 200 civil society organizations.

The march started at the Bilbao roundabout and ended at Plaza Colón. Jaime Mayor Oreja, a member of NEOS, said during a presentation at the march that “the repeal of abortion in the United States shows us that the debate on the culture of life is by no means over. We are going to be more present, united, and active than ever.”

“It’s essential to mobilize and defend the Christian foundations of our society in the face of relentless social disorder. We’re not here today in a debate about the past but to raise awareness and prepare for the debate of the future,” he added.

Josep Miró, coordinator of the Assembly of Associations for Life, Freedom, and Dignity, said that this march serves “to build the society of life and a new future where we join forces for the purpose of acting together.”

Regarding the changes to the abortion law approved by the government’s executive branch, Carmen Fernández de la Cigoña, director of the Center for University Studies’ Institute for Family Studies, lamented that the authorities “want to make us see it as moral that 16-year-old girls can go get an abortion without their families knowing about it, the people who love them the most and care about them the most.”

The reform of the abortion law was approved on May 17 by Spain’s Council of Ministers. Among other things, the bill would allow girls ages 16 and 17 to get an abortion without parental consent.

The bill goes next to the Congress of Deputies (lower house) for debate and a vote, and then on to the Senate.

Fernández de la Cigoña said the government wants to change reality and say that “killing is good and compassionate” while “caring, praying, helping those who need a helping hand is instead bad.”

“You cannot decide who lives and who dies or push society to do so. Because every life matters,” she said.

Nayeli Rodríguez, national coordinator of the 40 Days for Life campaign in Spain — representing the more than 200 organizations that joined together for the march — noted that more than 2.5 million abortions have been performed in Spain since the abortion law went into effect in 1985.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.