'Genoa' does not believe that abortion is a right, after criticism of Feijóo from the most conservative sector due to the law of deadlines

"I have never heard Feijóo talk about abortion being a right," says Sémper, who refers to what was approved at the last PP congress

MADRID, 13 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The spokesman for the PP campaign committee, Borja Sémper, has assured this Monday that the Popular Party "defends life as a fundamental axis" and does not consider that abortion is a right, referring to the position that the PP approved in its last national congress , held in February 2017 under the mandate of Mariano Rajoy. "We have not spoken at any time that abortion is a right," he declared.

This has been pronounced after the criticism of the most conservative sector of the PP to the party leader, Alberto Nuñez Feijóo, for his support for the deadline system after the decision of the Constitutional Court, as the former minister Jorge Fernández Díaz or the NEOS platform that champions the former Minister Mayor Oreja. The latter has indicated that "granting abortion the consideration of law is a definitive leap."

Several signatories of the PP appeal against the abortion law consulted by Europa Press also expressed their "outrage" on Friday at Feijóo's public support for the deadline system and accused him of "following" the left, stressing that this position was distances itself from what was approved in the XVIII Congress of the PP, which states that abortion "should not be understood as a right".

The criticism has been joined by voices such as the Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, José Ignacio Munilla, who has accused the PP of "betrayal" of the cause of life "totally and absolutely" for accepting the Abortion Law after the ruling of the Constitutional

"I have never heard President Feijóo speak of abortion as a right," Sémper declared at a press conference when asked expressly about these criticisms of Feijóo and if he believes that it is incoherent to assume a law of deadlines and, at the same time , consider that abortion is not a right as stated in the paper approved in the Congress of the PP.

In a press conference at the PP headquarters, after the meeting of the PP management committee chaired by Alberto Núñez Feijóo, Semper has indicated that in the PP they continue to "think the same" that they have "always" thought because "they are a party that defends life as one of the fundamental axes" of its political position".

Having said this, he has indicated that it is "absolutely compatible" to accept "a Constitutional Court ruling" on a regulation through the terms of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy "with the" defense of life and maternity". "This is one of the positions that the PP has historically and traditionally defended", he added.

When asked again if the PP does not consider abortion to be a right, Sémper stressed that "the position of the PP has never been that" and added that "the problem is not terminological."

Having said this, he has first expressed his "respect" for the Constitutional Court ruling and then the acceptance of the model based on the deadlines for the termination of pregnancy "because it offers guarantees to women who undergo an abortion." Thirdly, he has expressed the PP's defense of maternity and has stressed that they must ensure that no woman for socioeconomic reasons cannot continue with the pregnancy.

On this point, he pointed out that Spain has "obvious problems" in terms of birth rates and women who want to continue their pregnancy must be given an opportunity to do so, in a matter that affects "from an ethical point of view, moral and religious".

For all these reasons, he has said that the PP "accepts" the Constitutional ruling that, moreover, is in line with the comparative law of other European countries, so that this system of deadlines is a model "accepted and acceptable by the PP" .

"But we do not stop there, now it is necessary to put the accent on maternity, birth rates and on protecting the woman who wants to be a mother", he stressed, to defend talking about this issue with "openness", understanding the phenomenon "in all its globality".

Asked again if the PP considers that abortion is a 'yes' or 'no' right, the spokesman for the PP campaign committee referred to the paper debated at the last party congress that was held in 2017 when he was president of the PP and the Mariano Rajoy Government.

"We have not spoken at any time that abortion is a right, which does not diminish its entity or importance, nor does it fail to challenge the public powers to regulate this phenomenon in order to provide an answer and security to women who decide to undertake this process" , It is finished.

Abortion has always provoked debate in the ranks of the PP and this was seen in that XVIII Congress of the year 2017, to which numerous amendments were presented. In the end, the social paper was approved in that conclave in these terms: "The PP is firmly committed to the defense and protection of the right to life. That is why we consider that abortion should not be understood as a right but as a failure of the society".