Sunday, July 12, 2009

The Rain in Spain


When a political party controls all the levers of power in government, it often becomes the victim of its own success and, by extension, its ambition and arrogance, regardless of the strength or position of the opposing party. (This political truism could apply, in a qualified sense, to the GOP in the United States.) Spain is already suffering from the highest unemployment rate in Europe, which augurs poorly for the ruling socialists. And now, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his leftist cohorts are trying to railroad a bill through parliament that would make it legal for a 16-year-old obtain an abortion without parental consent.

From the Associated Press:
MADRID – Spain's Socialist prime minister has irked his natural enemies on the right and in the Catholic church by legalizing gay marriage and instituting fast-track divorce. Now he has hit a raw nerve even among his supporters with a proposal to let 16-year-olds get abortions without parental consent.

The debate is harsh and emotional, showing that for all the changes Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has introduced with his trailblazing social agenda since taking power in 2004, abortion remains sensitive in a country where most people call themselves Catholic, even if few churches are full on Sundays.

Polling numbers are against him: A survey published last month by the newspaper La Vanguardia said 71 percent oppose the teenage abortion reform, and the proportion among Socialist voters was 60 percent. A poll in El Pais put the figures at 64 and 56 percent, respectively. Both surveys gave a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

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