More than 200 civil society organizations with numerous organizations from the One of Us European Federation, NEOS, the Assembly of Associations for Life, Liberty and Dignity and Every Life Matters Platform show their rejection of the Government’s battery of laws of Spain that threaten human life and dignity
- Jaime Mayor Oreja: «the repeal of abortion in the US shows us that the debate on the culture of life is far from closed. We are going to be more present, united and active than ever”
- Josep Miró: «We have come here to build a society of life and a new future where we join forces with the purpose of acting together»
Madrid, June 26, 2022. The European Federation One Of Us, NEOS, the Assembly of Associations for Life, Liberty and Dignity and the Platform Every Life Matters, have held the Demonstration in defense of Life and Truth in Madrid. With a very important citizen response, more than 100,000 people have mobilized this Sunday through the streets of Madrid to protest against the battery of laws that threaten human dignity and life. More than 200 civil society organizations from all over Spain have gathered in a massive march that has had a clear message: «We are risking our lives! Enough of laws against the Truth and human nature!”
The demonstration has started in the Madrid roundabout of Bilbao and has traveled the streets of Madrid until reaching Plaza Colón. The march was led by representatives of the more than 200 convening organizations, including Jaime Mayor Oreja, President of the One of Us European Federation and member of NEOS; Carmen Fernández de la Cigoña, director of the CEU Institute for Family Studies and member of the ACdP; Josep Miró, coordinator of the Assembly of Associations for Life, Liberty and Dignity, who subsequently spoke a few words about the reasons that have motivated this mobilization in favor of Life and Truth and denounced the attitude and strategy of the Government contrary to the reception, care and dignity of human life.
Jaime Mayor Oreja began his speech with a reference to the decision of the US Supreme Court, which this Friday repealed the right to abortion in the US as a constitutional right. «This sentence shows that the debate on the culture of life is not closed, far from it, and that it will prevail over the culture of death, an expression of yesterday’s slavery.» The lack of presence favors the extremism of the laws and, therefore, it isfundamental «to mobilize and defend life and human dignity in our society in the face of relentless social disorder. We are not here today in a debate of the past, but to become aware and prepare for the debate of the future».
Mayor Oreja has assured that the demonstration supposes «a before and after for all, a symbol of the beginning of a change of attitude. Each and every one of us has to be able to transform a silent and well-to-do majority into a creative, noisy and participatory minority. Jaime Mayor has concluded by appealing to the transforming power of the sum of forces and has warned those who govern: «we are not going to be silent, we are going to be more present, united and active than ever.»
Carmen Fernández de la Cigoña, for her part, has expressed that «we are convinced that life, family, truth and freedom matter and that is why we are here.» In relation to the new abortion law approved by the Executive, he states that «they want us to see as moral that 16-year-old girls can go to have an abortion without their families, who are the people who love them the most and who care the most about they know.» The director of the CEU Institute for Family Studies and a member of the ACdP assures that the Government wants to change reality: “killing is good and compassionate; caring, praying, helping those who need a helping hand, on the other hand, is bad».
Regarding the objectives of the demonstration, he assured that “we are here because we want to take care of life and because we are not afraid. We want the life of children, the life of the elderly and freedom. Because without freedom there is no life. Fernández de la Cigoña has appealed directly to the Government: «You cannot decide who lives and who dies nor push society to do so. Because every life matters.
Josep Miró, for his part, began his speech by asking himself «Who can understand a government that sees how many more people die than are born, and at the same time allocates ten times more resources to subsidizing abortion than to helping the maternity? Or how can they defend a dignified death, when they deny money for all citizens to access palliative care?
Along the same lines, Miró has criticized that the Executive «is dedicated to persecuting those who simply pray in the vicinity of abortion clinics.» Regarding the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on abortion, he has assured that «those who speak out against it use as a great argument that the repealed norm is 50 years old, as if in this half century there had been no advances in science in knowledge of prenatal life.
The coordinator of the Assembly of Associations for Life, Liberty and Dignity ended his speech by addressing the demonstrators: «We have come here to build the society of life, which welcomes, cares for and accompanies it, and to build a new future where we join forces with the purpose of acting together. We have to stop thinking like mouse heads and become a great lion that defends life, truth and justice.”
Finally, Nayeli Rodríguez, National Coordinator of the 40 days for Life campaign for Spain, has warned that in Spain there have been more than 2.5 million abortions since the Abortion Law came into force in 1985. About the decision that the US Supreme Court has made, Rodríguez has assured that «they are afraid because they are perfectly aware that the truth always wins» and that «nor is it just a religious question, but rather one of science, humanity and common sense» where «we must offer love and union where there is violence and division».
The young National Coordinator of the 40 days for Life campaign for Spain has emphasized her three main reasons why she says no to abortion: “it is not a free practice, because the baby does not choose it. It is not free either, on the contrary, it is very expensive and takes its toll. And, of course, in safe abortion, the only thing guaranteed is the death of the unborn », she has concluded.
