The abortion debate deepens political fissures at a difficult time
Those European nations, including Britain, that have achieved something like a consensus on the issue of abortion are the fortunate ones. In others, and notably those with a strong Roman Catholic tradition, it is a perennially divisive and traumatic issue. When overlaid on to separatism and a deeply damaged economy it has the potential to retard the rebuilding of national identity and cohesion.
The dilemma Madrid faces is not an easy one to resolve. Both this government and its predecessor can be blamed for using abortion as a politically expedient card to play, proposing extreme legal solutions to a deeply complex and morally perplexing challenge. There are no right answers, and the Spanish people must try to find a way of living with competing claims like others have. What is unhelpful to such an outcome is when the issue of abortion and religion becomes closely aligned with party politics, such as has happened in America, where the religious right has captured the Republicans, much to their mutual detriment and the degradation of US politics as a whole
From a leader in ‘The Independent’, London
