The authority of the Catholic Church on abortion legislation: the Catholic Church's influence on the abortion law in Spain through political party influence and its competition with the rising feminist movement

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  • March 21, 2019
Creator
  • Boone, Maggy
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Political Science
Abstract
  • The politics of abortion in Spain is a complicated case due to the fact that abortion legislation is not restricted to solely the political sphere. Since the sixth century, the Catholic Church has had a longstanding and influential role within the state of Spain and the creation of any and all policies. After the authoritarian regime of Franco in the mid-twentieth century, the Catholic Church began to, for the first time; attempt to truly separate itself from the government and politics. However, due to the inherent Catholic morals and values that had been part of the political system for an extensive time period within the country, the conservative parties have continued to raise issues on the liberalization of abortion legislation, and specifically, the right to life at the moment of conception. Although the Catholic Church as an institution has continued to remove itself from political debates, the conservative party relentlessly pushes Catholic ideals onto the Spanish public. Over the course of the past few decades, the leftist parties in Spain have worked closely with rising women's organizations and institutions to promote women's rights and equality within the country, fighting for liberal abortion laws against the conservative opposition. As the abortion law liberalized to its maximum extent in history in 2010 under Zapatero, the question that remains for Spanish citizens today is how far the newly elected and conservative Popular Party will be able to extend their Catholic ideals onto the public, and if it will cost Spain the revocation of the abortion legislation passed only over a year ago.
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  • ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Trans-Atlantic Masters in the Department of Political Science.
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  • Stephens, John
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