The Spanish parliament on Thursday, February 16, 2023 approved a legislation which expands abortion and transgender rights for teenagers and grants medical leave to women suffering from period pain.
This makes Spain the first country in Europe that will entitle workers to paid menstrual leave.
The law, which passed by 185 votes in favour to 154 against, is aimed at breaking a taboo on the subject, the government has said.
The legislation allows workers experiencing period pain to take as much time off as they need. State social security system and not employers will pick up the tab for the sick leave. A doctor must approve the temporary medical incapacity of the worker in order to take the menstrual leave.
The length of sick leave that doctors will be able to grant to women suffering from painful periods has not been specified in the law.
The driving force behind the two laws was Equality Minister, Irene Montero, who belongs to the junior member in Spain’s left-wing coalition government, the “United We Can” Party.
The changes to sexual and reproductive rights mean that 16- and 17-year-olds in Spain can now undergo an abortion without parental consent.
Period products will now be offered free in schools and prisons, while state-run health centers will do the same with hormonal contraceptives and the morning after pill. The menstrual leave measure allows workers suffering debilitating period pain to take paid time off.
In addition, the changes enshrine in law the right to have an abortion in a state hospital. Currently more than 80% of termination procedures in Spain are carried out in private clinics due to a high number of doctors in the public system who refuse to perform them with many citing religious reasons.
Under the new system, state hospital doctors will not be forced to carry out abortions, provided they’ve already registered their objections in writing.
The abortion law builds on legislation passed in 2010 that represented a major shift for a traditionally Catholic country, transforming Spain into one of the most progressive countries in Europe on reproductive rights.
Spain’s constitutional court last week rejected a challenge by the right-wing Popular Party against allowing abortions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
A separate package of reforms also approved by lawmakers on Thursday strengthened transgender rights, including allowing any citizen over 16 years old to change their legally registered gender without medical supervision.
Minors between 12-13 years old will need a judge’s authorization to change, while those between 14 and 16 must be accompanied by their parents or legal guardians.
Previously, transgender people needed a diagnosis by several doctors of gender dysphoria. The second law also bans so-called “conversion therapy” for LGBTQ people and provides state support for lesbians and single women seeking IVF treatment.
Opposing Voices
The three initiatives have met strong opposition from the right-wing parties that form Spain’s main opposition bloc.
UGT, one of Spain’s largest trade unions, warned that such a menstrual leave could stigmatise women in the workplace and make companies favour recruitment of men.
The main opposition conservative Popular Party (PP) also warned the law risks “stigmatising” women and could have “negative consequences in the labour market” for them.
According to the Spanish Gynaecology and Obstetrics Society, about a third of women who menstruate suffer from severe pain.
The center-left coalition government is currently under fire for another of Montero’s star projects, a new sexual consent law that was intended to increase protection against rape but has inadvertently allowed hundreds of sex offenders to have prison sentences reduced.
The “Only Yes Means Yes” Law makes verbal consent the key component in cases of alleged sexual assault. The government is now struggling to come up with an amended version and end the controversy ahead of elections later this year.
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