By Nicolás de Cárdenas
The culture of life suffered two setbacks as the culture of death advanced again in Spain: The government is proposing to extend euthanasia to people with mental illness, while the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of abortion for minors 16 and over without parental knowledge.
According to the Diario Médico journal, the Spanish government’s Ministry of Health is going to modify the “Manual of Good Practices for Euthanasia” to include mental illnesses.
The draft of the planned change states that the Organic Law for the Regulation of Euthanasia “does not exclude mental illness, allowing people with an unbearable suffering due to the presence of a mental illness to request PAM [aid in dying] on equal terms with those whose suffering comes from a bodily illness.”
Consequently, the government would apparently allow euthanasia for people with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, or those who are bipolar.
In addition, the Constitutional Court upheld a provision in a recently passed law that allows minors 16 years of age and older to abort their baby without the knowledge and permission of their parents.
The VOX political party had filed a challenge to the constitutionality of the;latest changes to the abortion law;made in February 2023.
This change in the law, in addition to allowing minors to make a decision of this magnitude without the involvement of their parents or legal guardians, establishes other anti-life measures.
Eliminated from the provisions of the previous law were the three-day waiting period after the initial appointment for an abortion and the practitioner’s obligation to provide complete information, which could include ultrasounds, alternatives to abortion, and the methods and risks involved in abortion.
Furthermore, the changes to the law now upheld by the Constitutional Court mandate that abortion be deleted from the patient’s medical history after five years.
VOX told Spanish media that the court’s ruling affects “millions of young women who are left helpless at a time when they are most vulnerable.” According to the political party, it is “a decision against the value of human life” that creates “the configuration of a society without a culture of life and that represents another attack on the family, parental authority, and the duty and right of parents to ensure the well-being of their children.”
Also in February 2023, the Constitutional Court dismissed an appeal against the abortion law passed in 2010. This was a decision surrounded by controversy due to accusations of lack of impartiality on the part of the judges since at least four of them had been involved in the legislative process for the law under appeal.
In response the Christian Lawyers Foundation filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights for prevarication against the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde-Pumpido.
This story;was first published;by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.