As the country’s abortion law reforms went into effect, Spanish parliamentarians opened their mail to find replicas of 12-week-old foetuses covered in blood, a reminder of the consequences of abortion and the liberalisation of restrictions on the procedure about to take effect in the country.
The pro-life organisation Derecho a Vivir (right to life) and the citizen platform HazteOir.org had sent the packages so their arrival would coincide closely with the day the country’s liberalised abortion law entered into force, March 2.
Abortion on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy has been legal in Spain since 2010, but the reform of the law eliminated the mandatory three-day waiting period and allows 16-and 17-year-olds to have an abortion without their parents having to be informed.
Approximately 90,000 abortions take place in Spain each year.
Europa Press confirmed with sources from various political parties that had supported the abortion reform that they had received the plastic foetuses and the accompanying letter signed by Ignacio Arsuaga, president of the Derecho a Vivir and Hazte Oír associations.
The gutsy move caused a brief stir in Spanish media.
Derecho a Vivir said in a statement it hoped the images make the deputies “a little more aware of what they are legislating.”
“Some have talked about it being macabre. It certainly is. Abortion is cruel, violent and bloody. It is very macabre, and that is what [lawmakers] have approved,” Inmaculada Fernández, spokesperson for Derecho a Vivir said. “I trust that this replica of an ugly human covered in blood that they have received stirs their consciences somewhat.”
The plastic baby replicas were accompanied by a letter stating that thanks to the abortion law reform “the dismemberment and sucking of babies in the maternal womb will multiply for the benefit of abortion centres, which profit from the pain of thousands of women and the shedding of human blood.”
“Perhaps by seeing this replica of a human being on a real scale, you can understand what the creature is like that you, with your vote as a representative, allow to be eliminated in a surgical procedure of extreme violence and cruelty. Perhaps in this way, you will understand why the vast majority of doctors refuse to perform abortions,” the text adds.
The letter also thanked those legislators who voted against the law for defending the unborn and the women hurt by abortion.
