8 de Marzo Praga.My Body, My Rules

Gracias compas¡¡¡aupa¡¡

In solidarity with Spanish women, we appeal Spanish government to withdraw the new abortion bill. We are asking every woman, regardless her political affiliation, to get involved in this basic struggle for our society. In the same way, we ask Spanish government to listen women and men from their own country, who have been demonstrating over the last few weeks. This bill, which would only authorize termination of pregnancy in extreme cases (danger for mother’s health or after rape), would mean a dangerous backward movement in a country where women rights have been at the very heart of political debates over the last years. A true and deplorable regression!

Spain showed Europe the way regarding the fight against sexual and gender violence. Spanish Law inspired the 2010 French bill establishing the restraining order and the help line for women who were victims of violence. And therefore, Spain can not be now the country of the big step backwards.

Nowadays, a women dies every nine minutes all over the world because of a clandestine abortion. Denying this basic right to Spanish women will result in serious consequences for public health. Even in those countries where authorities provide contraception information, abortion is a basic right.

Women’s right to decide over their bodies/to have their bodies on their disposal is a basic condition for a society which hopes to be egalitarian. The freedom to decide whether to have a baby or not is the access key to many other rights. Without this freedom, it is impossible to talk about equality, no matter if in a couple, on the family, at work or in public life.

This attack from the Spanish government is part of a wider European offensive against women rights, as we could see in 2013 when the European Parliament rejected the Estrela Report which proposed that abortion should be integrated within the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

We declare our solidarity with Spanish women because this attack on women matters to all of us regardless of borders.