Spanish parliament to press on with restrictive abortion bill

Spain’s Socialists failed on Tuesday to block an unpopular draft law restricting women’s access to abortions, which has sparked large protests across the country and caused rare rifts in the conservative People’s Party (PP) that sponsored the bill. Thousands of people around Spain have joined marches in recent weeks to show their opposition to the bill, which will limit abortion to cases of rape or severe danger to the mother’s health. Several PP politicians have spoken out against the law, which will make Spain one of the most restrictive countries in Europe and overturns rules that allow abortions on demand in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. But the motion, put forward by the Socialists, was rejected by 183 votes, with 151 in favor and 6 abstentions.