Seventy years ago, in the midst of the Spanish Civil War, their political forbears were executing clergy. But something astonishing has happened to some of Spain’s Socialists.
The left-wing political group, Solidarity, in Spain has declared that its leftist ideology has led it to defend the right to life of the unborn from conception to natural death, in clear opposition to abortion.
In its statement, Solidarity said, “We are socialists and we oppose abortion and its legalisation. We oppose all attacks on life: the death penalty, torture, hunger, the arms race, war, slavery.”
The group called abortion “an odious act of violence carried out against the unborn and against mothers.”
The statement later indicated that “the womb of the mother should be the most protected place in nature. Society must also protect children and mothers before and after birth.”
One of the members of the group, Jesus Berenger, 41, explained, “I am part of the left and the left before used to defend life, the weakest, but now the parties are driven by their interests. I defend the dignity of the person. I am against hunger, exploitation and abortion, which is murder.”
A statement on the group’s website reads:
“All the parliamentary right and left-wing political parties defend the present capitalist system, and they are all pro-choice.
“In the last eight years under the Popular Party’s administration, abortion has risen by 37 per cent, reaching almost 80.000 abortions per year. The Popular Party’s policy regarding this issue has resulted in free abortion practice during the first three months of pregnancy. [President] Zapatero has legitimised abortion as a legal right. With such a “pseudo-progressive” measure as abortion advocacy a so-called socialist party, headed by Zapatero, has explicitly put forward a neoliberal political and economic capitalist program.”
“We strongly disapprove of abortion because we are left-wing. Likewise, we are against any assault on life, such as death penalty, torture, hunger, armament, war, destruction of the environment… We therefore proclaim that these are values the Left must vindicate.”
“We are left, socialist and self-managed, because we defend the socialisation of means of production, because we fight against any form of exploitation of human beings, because we are against the oppression of people by any imperialist power. Also, because we defend human life as a supreme value.
“In world history, abortion has been legalised by totalitarian, comunist nazi and liberal capitalist regimes. People, such as Robert McNamara – from Vietnam – and the World Bank, have goaded abortion acceptance. They have imposed it as something convenient for multinational capitalist dominance. Hitler rejected it for his aria “race” but enforced it for those under his rule. There’s life, a unique human life in the fertilised human ovum of the mother’s womb. This life is destroyed by using the cruelest methods.
“It is not just another part of the woman’s body, it is a unique individual; as well as elderly people, the handicapped, the mentally disabled, the terminally ill. All those people that would be included on a list of future targets by accepting abortion, because they might not be considered human beings with a right to live, but instead bothersome, unwanted members of a society that does not regard them as “productive.”
“Despite whatever may be said, there is not any more reactionary claim than a person demanding a right over an unborn child. It is the most inconceivable claim of property, still worse than claiming a master’s right to enslave. It is a shame that the Left should defend this so-called right. Moreover, in doing so, they are letting the Right hypocritically monopolise the opposition to it.
“We absolutely reject this shameful vindication, and considering the currently existent knowledge about embryology, the Left should not support this position. We are not only left-wing and we reject abortion, but also we are against it because we are left-wing.
“Human life is a supreme value from its conception to natural death. In line with this, we must take measures against abortion by fighting its causes, by assisting single mothers socially and legally in an efficient way, those who want to keep their children as well as those who decide to give them up for adoption.
“Abortion is an atrocious violent act against unborn children and their mothers. The Left should fight to make women’s wombs the safest place for children because this is naturally so. Likewise, society as a whole should protect mothers and children, before and after their birth.”