Tag Archives: Country: Spain

Catholic News Agency: “The spokesperson for Right to Life in Spain, Gador Joya, has challenged the country’s Vice President, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, to be consistent and act on comments she made on a local radio station. Joya is urging her to withdraw the proposed reforms of Spain’s abortion laws, which according to the vice president, have fractured Spanish society.”

Times of Malta: “MGRM activists yesterday greeted parliamentarians returning to the House after the summer recess with an appeal to discuss same-sex marriage, also handing out copies of a speech by left-wing Spanish Prime Minister Josè Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.”

The Americano: “The Spanish Government has formally unveiled plans to liberalize the country’s abortion law. Under the proposal, approved by the cabinet, abortion would be made available on demand for the first time. Girls as young as 16 would be allowed to have an abortion without parental consent.”

CNA: “In a statement issued Thursday, the Executive Committee of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference lamented a Congressional committee’s decision to debate and put to vote a censure of Pope Benedict XVI for his statements against AIDS during his trip to Africa.”

Euro Weekly: “In Spain the act of selling sex for money in itself is not illegal, but profiting from it by a third party is. Hence, brothels have been illegal in Spain since 1956, although thinly disguised as other ventures (known as Clubs de Alterne) they function freely without interference by the authorities.”

LifeSiteNews: “The leader of Spain’s opposition People’s Party is encouraging members to attend a massive demonstration in favor of life in the nation’s capital, following the approval of a new abortion legalization bill by Spain’s Council of State.”

Catholic News Agency: “A study by the Spanish organization Derecho a Vivir (Right to Life) has revealed that the law on abortion proposed by the Zapatero government would make Spain the European country with the least protection for the unborn and pregnant women.”

Catholic News Agency: “Bishop Adolfo Gonzalez of Almeria has criticized the Spanish government’s proposal to reform the country’s laws on religious freedom, saying it would be an attack on Christians under the pretext of ‘democracy.’”

Catholic News Agency: “Dr. Esteban Rodriguez, spokesman for the organization Right to Life (Derecho a Vivir) in Spain, responded yesterday to comments by the country’s Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamano, who said there was no room for a conscience clause in the new law on abortion. ‘We are willing to go to jail rather than following a criminal law,’ Rodriguez said, ‘and we are willing to commit the supposed crime of disobedience before the crime of abortion.’”

CNA: “The Collegial Medical Organization and various pro-life groups in Spain have strongly rejected statements by the country’s Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamano, who said Thursday that ‘there is no room for conscientious objection’ when it comes to abortion.”

Catholic News Agency: “The organization Professionals for Ethics in Spain has denounced the Socialist Party for attempting to delete a paragraph from its website that clearly states that the school course Education for the Citizenry is intended to promote the homosexual agenda.”

The move . . . is the latest in an ambitious program of social change under Zapatero, who critics say is resolutely determined to destroy Spain’s Judeo-Christian ethical foundations, primarily by deconstructing the traditional family.

Graham Keeley reports at Times Online: “The Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE) urged all Catholic MPs in the Lower House to vote against a Bill to allow abortion on demand. Bishop Juan Antonio Martínez Camino said: ‘Strict church doctrine says no true Catholic believer can agree with or support this move.’”

AP: “The Spanish Bishops Conference complained that legislation sponsored by the Socialist government describes abortion as a right that must be protected by the state.”

Giles Tremlett reports in The Guardian: “The offer comes from a fertility clinic and a gay and lesbian travel agency, which have launched joint package tours to what has now become one of the most socially tolerant countries in Europe. Together they have spotted a growing trend among British lesbians, who increasingly travel to clinics in liberal Spain for insemination treatment, which has become more difficult in Britain since sperm donors lost the right to remain anonymous in 2005.”

CNA: “Publico, a newspaper closely allied with Spain’s ruling Socialist party, reported this week that the government is studying the idea of suppressing religious symbols in military barracks, hospitals, jails and public schools, as well as during State funerals or inauguration ceremonies for public officials.”

Catholic News Agency: “Publico, a newspaper closely allied with Spain’s ruling Socialist party, reported this week that the government is studying the idea of suppressing religious symbols in military barracks, hospitals, jails and public schools, as well as during State funerals or inauguration ceremonies for public officials.”

Soeren Kern reports in The Brussels Journal: “The Spanish Parliament has approved a resolution urging Socialist Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to limit the power of judges to prosecute people for atrocities and human rights crimes committed abroad under the concept of universal jurisdiction . . .”

AP: “Up to 70 percent of Spaniards oppose abortion law reform plans that would allow girls as young as 16 to terminate a pregnancy without their parents’ consent, according to two polls released Monday.”

LifeSiteNews: “A report by Spain’s Institute for Family Policy says that Spain, with one of the western world’s lowest birth rates and a high average life expectancy, is now the most rapidly aging country in the European Union. The Institute’s head, Eduardo Hertfelder, told media that the government’s ‘dreadful’ contraceptive policies are having a ‘catastrophic effect.’”

Spanish Family Forum“On the subject of abortion, the Government has simply turned a deaf ear to qualified scientific opinion and ignored the scientific evidence that human life exists from the moment of conception. In doing so, it has entrenched the injustice of abandoning women who are contemplating abortion and it ignores not only the protection which the Constitution affords the life of the unborn child but also the public health problem created by the post-abortion syndrome.”

AP: “The Spanish government approved a plan Friday to ease its abortion law and allow the procedure without restrictions up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, pressing ahead with a sweeping social reform agenda that has irked conservatives and the Catholic church.”

LifeSiteNews: “The Spanish government announced yesterday that pharmacies will be required to sell the abortifacient ‘morning after pill,’ without a prescription and without an age limitation, throughout Spain.”

Christian Telegraph: “A Spanish homosexual organization has submitted a legal complaint of “homophobia” to the nation’s attorney general after a bioethics professor called sodomy a sexual perversion and said that homosexuality is a mental disorder, reports Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, LifeSiteNews.com.”

Martin Barillas reports at Spero News: “Hundreds of thousands of protesters, including families with children, filled the streets and plazas of cities throughout Spain on March 29 denouncing legislation proposed by the Socialists that would reform abortion law so as to allow minors to abort their pregnancies without parental consent at the age of 16.”

LifeSiteNews:
“Approximately one thousand scientists, physicians, academicians, and intellectuals have signed a statement rejecting the further legalization of abortion in Spain, and signatures continue to be added to the document.”

Christian Telegraph: “A Spanish judge removed from the bench for refusing to approve a homosexual adoption says that before his trial the prosecutors attempted “extortion” against him, and persecuted him for his Christian beliefs, reports LifeSiteNews.com.”

Christian Today: “The Roman Catholic Church in Spain has launched a campaign against abortion following the government’s announcement earlier in the month that it intends to liberalise the country’s 1985 abortion law.”

AP: “A government-appointed panel of experts has recommended that Spain ease restrictions on abortion and allow the procedure on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy, a minister said Thursday.”

AP: “Spain is on course to ease its restrictive law on abortion, setting the stage for another clash between a Socialist government that has already introduced sweeping social changes and conservatives and Catholic clergy bent on preserving traditional family values.”

CNA: “Organizations opposed to Education for the Citizenry are praising four rulings from the Supreme Court which, while they refuse to acknowledge conscientious objection, recognize the essence of the debate and reject any kind of ideological indoctrination in Spanish schools.”

LifeSiteNews: “Spanish families who are resisting their government’s mandatory homosexualist indoctrination program have made a video expressing their defiance.”

The program, “Education for Citizenship,” . . . instructs teachers to “revise the student’s attitude towards homosexuality.” It was formulated by Spain’s Socialist Worker’s Party, which has held power since 2004 . . .

LifeSiteNews: “The Spanish Supreme Court has been deadlocked for two days over whether or not to permit parents to remove their children from a government civics program that indoctrinates students with homosexual ideology . . .”

The Catholic News Agency: “The Supreme Court in Spain has stripped the Diocese of Canarias of the right to determine the qualifications of teachers hired to teach the Catholic faith. The court ruled this week in favor of a woman …

CNA: “. . . The campaign now has some $250,000 in donations and has spread to other British cities, where some 600 buses carry ads that read, “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”  On Monday …

CNA reports: “. . . Judge Fernando Ferrin Calamita was accused of illegally delaying a request for adoption by the [lesbian] couple for six months. He was sentenced to two years, three months and one day of unemployment or public …

In an unprecedented decision here, a judge ruled in November that the public school must remove the crucifixes from classroom walls, saying they violated the “nonconfessional” nature of the Spanish state.

The Anti-AIDS Independent Committee in Spain has called for behavioral changes among homosexuals in order to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, as 2007 data confirms that the disease is more prevalent in the homosexual population.

AFP: “Hundreds of thousands of people Sunday attended an open-air Catholic mass in Madrid designed to promote family values in a country where the Socialist government has undertaken sweeping social reforms.”

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “Argument over nativity scenes and church-state separation are not limited to the United States. AFP reported yesterday that in Madrid, Spain, a small nativity scene at the state prosecutor’s office led to objections from a …

LifeSiteNews.com reports: “Despite threats, intimidation, and the possibility of a jail sentence, Judge Fernando Ferrin Calamita is unapologetically defending his refusal to approve the adoption of a Spanish child by the lesbian lover of the child’s mother . . . …

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “For the first time, a judge in Spain has ordered a public school to remove crucifixes from the walls of its classrooms and public spaces.”

LifeSiteNews.com reports: Representatives of various pro-life and pro-family organizations are urging Spanish lawmakers not to loosen Spain’s already liberal abortion law. Family Forum President Benigno Blanco is denouncing the socialists’ plans to loosen restrictions on abortion in the country, stating …

Spiegel reports: . . . “I can understand, accept and respect that there are people of other sexual tendencies, but should they be proud to be gay?” she says in the book by journalist Pilar Urbano, which is officially published …

AFP reports: “A Spanish pro-life group said it plans to protest the arrival on Thursday of a Dutch boat that is offering to provide abortions that circumvent Spain’s strict laws.”

CNA reports: “Father Joan Manuel Serra, a priest of the Diocese of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, has asked King Juan Carlos of Spain not to sign a royal decree that would modify mortuary policies and would make it legal to …

The BBC reports: “Spanish police have arrested 121 people in what they described as the country’s largest ever operation against internet child pornography.”

LifeSiteNews.com reports: “Following years of pro-abortion and anti-family policies accompanied by a plummeting birth rate, Spanish society has reached a new milestone: for every four marriages contracted, there are now three ‘ruptures’ – most of them divorces.”

The socialist government of the Spanish province of Andalucia is considering new legislation that could fine doctors up to one million euros for “unjustified and useless measures for prolonging life”, according to the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Spain has created a panel of legal and health experts to consider liberalizing the country’s current abortion laws,

The Minister of Justice in Spain, Mario Fernandez Bermejo, received the members of the organization, Right to Die with Dignity, in a meeting and vowed to meet the demands of their group dedicated to promoting euthanasia and suicide.

LifeSiteNews.com reports: A report from Spain shows that abortion is being used for eugenic purposes to eliminate the “unfit,” specifically children with Down’s syndrome. Recent statistics show that almost 95% of Spanish babies diagnosed with Down’s syndrome are aborted.

Religion Clause Blog reports: “Marchers at the event carried a banner picturing Pope Benedict XVI on fire and calling him ‘chief of the inquisitors.’”

Cornell Law Professor Sherry F. Colb has this article in Findlaw. She concludes: That said, I am happy for the Spanish primates, just as I would be for any small group of animals (human or nonhuman) whose suffering at our …

CNSNews reports: “An Islamic body organizing the high-profile international interfaith conference now underway in Madrid has a history of promoting Islamic law (shari’a) and religious intolerance.”

Via Rob Vischer at Mirror of Justice, and in connection with a previous post, a few more links relating to Spain’s recent decision to “grant limited rights to apes” follow: What’s Next in the Law? The Unalienable Rights of Chimps …

An article by Donald G. McNeil Jr. in the Ideas and Trends section of the New York Times discusses potential implications of a vote in the Spanish Parliament to grant rights to apes. Related: Peter Singer’s legal rights for apes …

CWNews reports that Spain’s “equal-opportunity” minister will join an upcoming “gay pride” parade.

“Spain is on the verge of fully passing the Great Ape Project. Conceived by Peter Singer . . . Singer’s overarching goal is to obliterate Judeo/Christianity as the reigning philosophy of society. ”

CNA News reports: Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid said this week that gender ideology and the laws inspired by it, such as those condoning so-called gay marriage, are an expression of “man’s rebellion against his biological limits.” Hat …

CNA News reports: “The majority Socialist party in Spain’s Congress joined the opposition Popular Party in rejecting a law proposed by the United Left Party that would have prohibited the displaying of religious symbols during inaugural ceremonies for public officials.”

CWNews reports: The Spanish bishops are reportedly at odds over the stance their episcopal conference should take in relation to the country’s Socialist government. The government has clashed repeatedly with the Church leadership on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage, …

“In an interview with the Socialist daily El Pais this past Sunday, Spain’s Minister of Education, Mercedes Cabrera, reaffirmed the government’s policy of complete intolerance of parents who conscientiously object to the controversial course “Education for Citizenship,” reports Catholic News Agency.”

CWNews reports that the socialist Spanish seeks to extend the limits of legal abortions from 14 weeks to 16 weeks.

The eminent Spanish psychiatrist Enrique Rojas gave a speech yesterday in Buenos Aires declaring that homosexuality is “a clinical process that has an etiology, pathogeny, treatment, and cure”.

You didn’t have to know anything about Spanish politics to be fascinated by the striking photo that came out of Spain this week: The new defense minister, 37 and seven months pregnant, reviewing her troops in a chic maternity outfit.

“We are not against democracy, we are for it,” he said. Whoever denies the right to life is against democracy and leads society towards disaster” . . .

“. . . But voters turned out in force to endorse the progressive social agenda that Zapatero championed in his first term — including new laws on women’s rights, divorce and gay marriage — and returned him to office for another four years.”

CNA news reports: "In a ceremony in which he was named a member of the Royal Academy of History, the cardinal gave a speech in which he pointed out that the Visigoth period saw the creation in Spain of “a …

. . . laws should recognize that the institution of the family, founded upon marriage, predates the establishment of any national government.

In Spain, it is harder to cut down a tree illegally than it is to commit an abortion . .

Socialist Spain continues to battle the Catholic church for the heart of the culture.

"Madrid: Detentions of paedophiles have gone up rapidly in Spain, where experts attribute the increase of such crimes to the opportunities the internet offers to child molesters or pornography consumers." Siy.com reports (2.11.2008)

“A leading figure in the Spanish government has threatened retaliatory measures against the Catholic Church, in response to the Spanish bishops’ statements on political affairs.”