 When the media asked King Juan Carlos if he would sign the bill that was being debated in the Cortes Generales , he answered that he was the King of Spain , not of Belgium – a reference to King Baudouin of Belgium , who refused to sign the Belgian law legalising abortion . For the king to withhold his royal assent would effect a veto of the legislation . However , the king gave his royal assent to Law 13 / 2005 on 1 July 2005 , and the law was gazetted in the Boletín Oficial del Estado on 2 July , and came into effect on 3 July . The king received criticism by Carlist and other far right conservatives for signing the legislation . 
