( CNN ) -- One of the lesser-known things done by Spain 's pre-Civil War left-wing government during its short rule was to legalize abortion . Banned under Franco , abortion was allowed again in 1985 , and in 2010 legal abortion was extended radically by the left-wing Zapatero government . In recent years , hundreds of thousands of Spaniards have taken to the streets to demand an end to Spain 's laissez-faire abortion culture . The current conservative government is now promoting a bill which restricts -- albeit with significant compromises -- legal abortion . Among protests against the bill , topless activists called `` Femen '' threw bloodstained underwear at Madrid 's Cardinal-Archbishop as he visited a Madrid parish . Contrasting view : Spain 'heading for self-made mess ' with abortion ban . If , as predicted , the bill is passed , abortion will no longer be regarded in law as a `` right '' but as a crime . This classification is not a draconian throwback to a previous age : Today abortion remains part of the criminal law in many Western jurisdictions , even in places with high rates of legally-permitted abortion such as Britain . Two other elements of the proposed Spanish law which mirror the British abortion law relate to doctors : A requirement that two doctors are necessary to authorize an abortion in most cases , and a right of conscientious objection for those doctors who reject abortion . These three elements send a message that abortion is not merely a medical procedure but an act of grave moral significance for all involved : Doctors , mothers and unborn children . There is nothing in international human rights law which denies or downgrades a human being 's right to life based on physical development . If we recognize that unborn children are human beings , then we must recognize that abortion is Spain 's leading cause of death . Even advocates of legal abortion admit that unborn children are human beings . Those advocates , however , draw arbitrary lines on legal personhood and therefore the right to life : some at 12 weeks after conception , some at 24 weeks , some at birth and a few even years after birth . There is , however , no solid foundation for such lines . A human being has at the moment of conception the same genetic identity throughout life . This is why some pro-lifers like myself have reservations about the proposed law . The bill enshrines a compromise without a rational basis . Abortion would still be allowed when doctors diagnose a threat to the mother 's health or when following an allegation that the baby was conceived in a non-consensual act . When a danger is detected to the mother 's health , the correct way for doctors to proceed is to `` kill '' the danger , not kill the child . Abortion does n't cure any illnesses or treat any conditions . Just as we do n't kill children after birth if caring for them may involve a danger to the mother 's health , we should n't kill them before birth either . When a woman has been made pregnant through rape , an abortion punishes an innocent person -- the child . It does n't unrape the mother . Studies and surveys suggest that many , if not most , women made pregnant through sexual assault do not choose abortion and are glad they did n't . There is evidence , albeit not yet conclusive , which suggests that legal abortion may pose an additional health risk for women . A recent meta-analysis of 36 studies of Chinese women suggests a link between abortion and breast cancer . The research of New Zealand 's Professor David Fergusson , who supports a legal right to abortion , suggests a significant link between abortion and negative mental health outcomes . Today Spain is an aging nation with one of the world 's lowest birth-rates . Estimates suggest that in a few years deaths ( of born people ) will outnumber births . The Spanish can not afford to continue to regard children as burdensome optional extras . In the United States , the Hispanic population continues to grow in size and significance . It is an absurd irony that Spain 's native population has been declining just as their ethnic brethren have been advancing in the world 's richest nation . Despite the new bill 's compromises , I welcome its recognition of the equality of disabled human beings through the proposed deletion of disability as a ground for abortion . The revival of eugenics has been one of the most retrograde trends in recent decades , a sinister shadow of those dark pre-1945 years in which science was abused to justify eliminating so-called `` lives unworthy of life . '' No unborn child is unworthy of legal protection against abortion : for we were all unborn children once . Read more : 2009 -- Spanish Parliament approves abortion bill . The views expressed in this commentary are solely those of Anthony Ozimic .
Spain 's proposed abortion law would restrict abortion to rape victims or women who would suffer lasting harm . Anthony Ozimic says no unborn child is unworthy of legal protection against abortion . Having an abortion does not `` unrape '' a rape victim , he says , or cure an illness . It simply means that the woman has been raped and she needs medical attention for her injuries.