Raphael Martinez |
Madrid (EFE).- The Constitutional Court, with its new progressive majority, will address an ambitious agenda in the coming weeks to deliberate and resolve in plenary session the three most socially relevant issues in court: the 2010 abortion law, the euthanasia and the educational law known as the “Celáa law”.
The president of the TC, Cándido Conde-Pumpido, has announced to the magistrates his work plan that involves accelerating the resolution of these three issues in the next three plenary sessions of the body, less than four months before the municipal and regional elections.
Abortion Law, on February 7, 8 and 9
The Organic Law on sexual and reproductive health and the voluntary interruption of pregnancy, approved in the period of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, established free abortion as a woman’s right until week 14, and until week 22 in case of risk of the life or health of the woman or serious abnormalities in the fetus.
In the cases of 16 and 17-year-old girls who want an abortion, parental consent was not necessary, but at least one of the parents or legal guardians was informed.
In 2015, the PP reformed the law again, but limited itself to once again demanding parental consent for minors without touching on the nuclear issues of the 2010 law that had appealed to the TC. In the reform that is currently being processed, the consent of the parents for adolescents of 16 and 17 years is suppressed again.
The appeal of the PP, which unsuccessfully requested the suspension of the law, charges against article 12 that guarantees access to abortion since it considers that it conflicts with the right to life; article 14 that allows abortion in the first 14 weeks without there being “any objective cause”; and article 15 on the interruption for medical reasons until week 22.
The text considers the so-called “law of terms” of 2010 unconstitutional compared to the “law of assumptions” of 1985, that is, it intends to outlaw abortion except in the three cases included in the rule of 38 years ago: alleged rape; up to 22 weeks in cases of risk of fetal malformations; and without limit in the case of danger to the physical and mental health of the mother.
In addition, the appeal includes the controversial article 13.4 -already repealed- that allowed 16 and 17-year-old girls to end their pregnancy without the consent of their parents.
And that happens when the leader of the PP, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, yesterday endorsed the law of deadlines, making it clear that the “substantial discrepancy” of the PP with respect to the current regulations is parental consent in minors and the rest of the issues “are not cool.” with the current criteria, especially when “in Europe all countries (…) have a law of deadlines”.
Euthanasia Law, on February 21, 22 and 23
Euthanasia, regulated in 2021 at the request of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, can be requested by people who suffer from “a serious and incurable disease” or a “serious, chronic and disabling condition” that affects autonomy and that generates “physical or constant and intolerable psychic».
The patient may receive euthanasia about five weeks after requesting it, after being informed of the different alternatives and palliative care available, and after confirming their willingness to die at least four times throughout the entire process. In addition, the patient can withdraw at any time.
A guarantee and evaluation commission, made up of medical, nursing and legal personnel, supervises each case and is ultimately responsible for authorizing it. Health professionals are eligible for conscientious objection.
In its first year of application, from June 2021 to June 2022, 180 people exercised their right to euthanasia in Spain.
The appeal of the PP considers that the law violates the right to life and that it generates legal defenselessness because it does not have a legal regime that guarantees that the decision has been taken freely and with full understanding.
Likewise, Vox challenged the norm for violating the right to life by stating that it is a fundamental right that the State must protect, as is also its duty to offer palliative care to those who suffer.
Both parties unsuccessfully requested the precautionary suspension of the law. And both formations also defend that their response to euthanasia involves improving palliative care.
The TC already had the opportunity to rule on a specific case, that of Eugen Sabau, known as the Tarragona Gunman, whose euthanasia the victims of his crimes tried to stop without success, who wanted him to be tried.
The “Celáa Law”, in plenary session on March 7, 8 and 9
The so-called Celaá law includes as the most controversial points that Spanish is no longer the vehicular language in education, that within 10 years ordinary centers have the means to enroll students in Special Education centers or that the administrations will give Free public land only to build public centers and not subsidized.
Students will pass the course when the teaching team considers it and also with one or two failed subjects. Repeating is exceptional and the student can only do it a maximum of two times throughout Primary and Secondary. Likewise, it does not allow public funds to finance centers that segregate students by sex.
The PP’s appeal against the Celaá law challenges 16 of its articles and two additional provisions on the grounds that it violates the parents’ right to choose education, discriminates against concerted, special and gender education, and “does not guarantee” that Spanish be the vehicular language throughout the country.
While Vox requests the annulment of the sections on concerted education, special education and the Spanish language, understanding that the “only vehicular language that will remain is the one decided by the respective autonomous community.”