The Popular Party and Vox have voted against enshrining the right to abortion in the Constitution. Despite the opposition from both parties, the plenary session of the Canary Islands Parliament, with the support of the other political groups, has passed the motion.
Izquierda Unida Canaria (IUC) has denounced this Wednesday the vote against by the Partido Popular, together with the ultra-right-wing Vox. The organization believes that this decision demonstrates "the PP's lack of real commitment to equality and social justice," and shows once again its willingness to agree and adopt the most retrograde theses to preserve its territorial power.
IUC insists that the right to decide on one's own body is a fundamental right that must be guaranteed in the Magna Carta, as part of the right to health and equality. The vote against by the PP and Vox, at a time of alert regarding the setbacks in rights in other countries and autonomous communities, "is an act of irresponsibility that puts the achievements of the feminist movement at risk."
Luisa Tamayo, National Coordinator of IUC, has been blunt about it: "This vote is not neutral, it is a clear stance against women's rights. In the Canary Islands, we have made great strides in guaranteeing the voluntary interruption of pregnancy as part of the public health system, but we cannot allow setbacks. Today, the PP has preferred to align itself with those who deny our rights rather than with those who defend an egalitarian society."The party recalls that constitutionally shielding the right to abortion is not just a symbolic issue, but an essential legal guarantee against attempts to cut back that are already occurring in various autonomous communities governed by the right and the far right. From collective conscientious objection to the exclusion of this service in public centers, there are multiple strategies used to limit a legal right.
For the political organization, the PP's negative vote in the Canary Islands highlights its political incoherence: "They talk about equality in speeches, but they vote with those who compare abortion to smoking tobacco or call it murder. Whose side are they on when women need to be guaranteed access to their rights?" Tamayo stated.
The Canary Islands federation emphasizes that feminism has managed to conquer fundamental rights through decades of struggle, and that the protection of abortion should be part of the bloc of constitutionality. Only in this way can it be avoided that conservative governments in turn impose obstacles or try to dismantle this right as has already happened in the past. A legislative reform to expand rights IUC has also recalled that in 2023, the previous Ministry of Equality promoted a legislative reform that expanded rights, eliminated administrative barriers, and guaranteed access to voluntary termination of pregnancy within the public health system. However, without constitutional protection, these achievements remain fragile and susceptible to being dismantled by those who, like the PP and Vox, have made the rollback of rights their political program.
From IUC, a call has been made for social mobilization to respond forcefully to this new attack: "We are not going to allow a single step backwards. Feminism has shown that it knows how to stop those who want us silent and without rights. We will continue in the streets and in the institutions defending the right to decide, to abort without obstacles, and to live in a society where bodies are not a terrain of ideological dispute."
The organization concludes by stating that sexual and reproductive rights are not negotiated, they are guaranteed, and that in the face of the reactionary wave, the Canary Islands must remain a feminist, free, and just territory.
