The young people between the ages of 16 and 17 may terminate their pregnancy without parental permission Starting this Thursday, March 2 at Spain, while the leave due to menstruation or termination of pregnancy will take effect at the beginning of next June.
The norm will be published this Wednesday in the Official State Gazette (BOE), as confirmed by government sources to Europa Press and the bulk of the law will enter into force the day after its publication.
The organic law that modifies the Law on sexual and reproductive health and the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, was definitively approved by the Congress of Deputies on February 16, 2023.
In addition to eliminating the requirement of parental consent to abort in the case of girls under 16 and 17 years of age, The norm also suppresses the three days of reflection, guarantees that the interruption of the pregnancy can be carried out in public hospitals and shields abortion against anti-abortion protocols like the one proposed by Vox in Castilla y León.
On the day of its approval in Congress, the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero, assured that it was "historic day" for the women. "We recover the right that was stolen from 16 and 17-year-old girls to decide about their own body, informing and sharing this process with their families, with whomever they want, but they and only they are the ones who decide.
The State also sends a strong message to women: we believe in and respect their decisions; "When women decide to terminate their pregnancy, they have reflected on the time they have needed", Montero said.
Among other changes, the reform of the abortion law also introduces the recognition of menstrual health as part of the right to health; the distribution of contraceptive methods in prisons, social services and during sex education campaigns in secondary schools, or the co-responsibility of men in the use of contraceptives.
Although the leave due to disabling menstruation and termination of pregnancy, whether voluntary or not, will not take effect until the beginning of June, since the law specifies that some final provisions will not be applicable until three months after the publication of the law in the BOE.
Specifically, these final provisions refer to the modification of the revised text of the General Social Security Law to include the right to sick leave "special situations of temporary disability due to secondary disabling menstruation, interruption of pregnancy, whether voluntary or not, and pregnancy from the first day of the thirty-ninth week".
Another novelty included in the law is the prohibition of anti-abortion protocols such as the one proposed by VOX in Castilla y León. Specifically, through a transactional amendment introduced during the processing of the Law in the Senate, also supported by the PP, it was established that the administrations "They will ensure that the applicant is not the recipient of practices that seek to alter, whether to strengthen, revoke or delay, the formation of her will regarding the interruption or not of her pregnancy." with "the exception of essential and pertinent clinical information".