Animals Better Protected than Unborn Babies??

(Follow up Article Posted 3/17) In follow-up to my previous write-up in regards to the abortion rights and the subjects standing in Spain, the Catholic clergy has recently decided to launch an anti-abortion campaign. The campaign, according to an article, is said to suggest that "animals are better protected than unborn babies." According to the spokesperson for Spanish Bishops Conference , Jose Antonio Martinez Camino, "We want to speak for those that have no voice as yet" which is even more enforced by the the campaigns billboards which feature a toddler sitting next to one of the most endangered species - the Iberian lynx with the "catchy" slogan "What about me? Protect my life!" In terms of this religious issue battle, it is getting a lot of hype as the Catholic church has decided to react so strongly. In follow up to the previous blog discussing the reformation of the 1985 abortion law, which according to a source states, "Legal up to 12 weeks in cases of rape, deformed baby, or danger to the mother's life or mental health.

Law passed in 1985. In practice, the "mental health" clause has resulted in abortion on demand (up to 12 weeks)as psychiatrists will routinely certify that a woman's mental health is endangered." has now been reformed to allowing a demand for the practice up to 14 weeks.

As a surprise to me, in response to the government's plans, several hundreds of scientists and researchers have launched a response rejecting the plans, saying, according to an article, "Abortion, being an attack on life in the first weeks of development, is no body's right," said Dr. Monica Lopez Barahona, director of Vidacord, a biomedical company that stores stem cells from umbilical cord blood." Being a Catholic myself, I feel as though there aren't a lot of doctor's and scientists here in the states that would have contributed the same response.

Spanish Socialist response? After their attempts to anger the church with their "gay marriage laws" and "fast-track divorces" their spokesperson, Jose Antonio Alonso, provides a statement which labels the church's campaign as "extremist and demagogic."" A major issue the health department in Spain is trying to present here is that it is not the "yes" or "no" to abortion - its the fact that legislation has to move with that of the other European countries they are saying they always want to be like.

The campaign, which ran from March 16-31 has caused a protest - one of which, according to an article, a possibly estimated 500,000 people showed up to the protest, but according to the Agence France Presse news agency, they placed the estimate at about 100,000. The protest was led by cheers of ""Get out of here and let the children live". Children, who participated in the protest, according to an article, chanted, " Thank you mummy for letting me live."

In response to, what an article states, many feminist groups are calling the campaign as "alarmist", they have announced they will be launching a counter campaign - one which will "flood Spain with posters" from the feminist organization comprised of over 200 feminist groups.

(Photo credit: AFP)

Drug Lord Murder Leads to More than Just One Bust

After the murder in January of convicted Colombian drug lord, Leonidas Vargas, Spanish officials have just recently arrested four suspects. The suspects identity, three Colombians and one Romanian, was not released - along with the location of their arrest in order to keep anonymity with the department. Vargas, who was 60, was shot in his hospital bed, just a week after being transferred for treatment, at Doce de Octubre Hospital in Madrid. Although Spanish officials have declined to say what the motive was for the murder, it is said, according to an article, that it is a "settling of scores". Two days after Vargas' murder, his brother Fabio along with another were both found dead in Columbia. Vargas' past consists of an arrest for over 500 kilos of cocaine in July 2006 which landed him with a sentencing of 19 years in jail. He also had a business past with drug lords such as deceased Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha and Pablo Escobar - killed in a 1993 police shootout.

(Photo credit: EFE)