Spain has made it a crime to harass or intimidate women who are headed to receive an abortion under new legislation passed Wednesday by the nation’s Senate, CBS News reports.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party proposed the legislation, which will officially go into effect in the coming days.
The law, translated by CBS from Spanish, says anyone trying “to impede [a woman] from exercising her right to voluntarily interrupt pregnancy” through “bothersome, offensive, intimidating or threatening acts” will face jail time of between three and 12 months, or community service.
It will ban anti-abortion activists from protesting outside of abortion service providers and clinics and extends to ban harassment of those performing abortions or working in the abortion providers as well, reports CBS.
Abortion was legalized in Spain, which has a staunch Catholic history, in 1985 in the case of rape, fetal abnormality, or if there are certain risks to the mother.
This decriminalization of abortion was extended in 2010 to include on-demand abortion up to 14 weeks, though CBS notes that many Spanish women still face obstacles within that allotted timeframe when seeking an abortion.
According to the Collegiate Medical Organization of Spain, most OBGYNs in the public sector refuse to practice abortions on their patients.
At private sector clinics, there are typically fewer obstacles, but many women face harassment from anti-abortion demonstrators.
“Praying is not a crime and we will continue to pray and offer our help to all those women who need it so that they can see that abortion is not the only solution,” Right to Life spokeswoman Inmaculada Fernandez said in a statement to CBS News.
“More than 6,000 children were born last year thanks to the help of pro-life groups,” added Fernandez, “And none of the mothers regretted giving birth.”
