The short-term problem of debt repayment pales before the long-term problem of too few people.

Socialism in Spain seeks to establish a state of what it calls ”solidarity.” Underlying this nebulous concept—which looks good at first glance—are policies that promote contraception and abortion and, in practice, punish large families. If left in place for a generation, these policies will destroy the unborn, the family and, ultimately, the entire society.

We expect our leaders to behave rationally, whether they are creatures of the left or the right. But if their model state is one which attempts to eliminate all differences between individuals in terms of wealth and power, as Spain’s currently does, watch out.

A social-welfare system, where the government is involved in distributing benefits and burdens among the citizens, must never undermine the twin supports of all societies: fertility and freedom. It must promote an adequate rate of population replacement so the population does not age and die, and it must promote sufficient economic freedom that the economy continues to expand and jobs continue to be created.

For the first, marriage and parenthood must be encouraged and, if necessary, immigration as well. For the second, an entrepreneurially minded private sector must be protected and promoted so that human beings can exercise their natural God-given creativity. This enables, in turn, the creation of new wealth, which make it possible to provide jobs for these new members of society.

Fertility and freedom. If either of these two fundamentals is missing, a country will have serious problems. If both are missing, a country is poised to collapse. Such is the case with Spain today.

Last week a report was published by the Institute for Family Policies which documents the current crisis. The main points of “Evolution of the Family in Spain 2010″ are:

• Spain is the fastest-aging country in Europe and the one that loses the most young people to out-migration. This means that the social security system currently in place is in grave danger of collapsing with a very few years. The birth rate in Spain is a dismal 1.46, and it is only this “high” because of the many immigrants from Latin American and North Africa who have children.
• The marriage rate has fallen by 28% over the last 20 years, while marital breakdown rates have increased by 28%. For every 3 marriages that are formed, 2 break down. The Zapatero government has exacerbated the problem by legalizing what is called, “express divorce,” that is, a speedy divorce granted for any reason. The marital breakup rate has increased 115% during the four years since this law came into effect. Broken families now account for 4.54% of the total population. The economic impact of this disintegration of the basic unit of society—the family—is enormous.
• In Spain today there are more households (16 million) but fewer children. Forty percent of households do not have any children at all. One in six households consist of only one person. In 1980, 29.1% of households had five or more members. Today only 7.3% of households have that number of members.

If one wants to maintain a thriving democratic society, these figures are a debacle. A society that cannot rely on its families because it has systematically destroyed them is a society that is moribund, and may not survive the difficult times ahead of it.

Zapatero is not to blame for the international economic crisis. At the same time, his policies have crippled Spain in ways that make it hard for her to overcome it. One of the first things that he took away was the “baby bonus,” a government payment to a couple upon the birth of a child. Spain now has the unhappy distinction of being the least family-friendly country in Europe. Immigration is her last hope to offset a declining population, but with unemployment running at 5 million and a stagnant economy only the low-skilled and less-productive are willing to augment her ranks.

Zapatero’s government must cut unnecessary spending, encourage private enterprise, and shelter young couples from taxes. If the government encourages family formation and private enterprise, the new family-run businesses that will spring up will help to move the economy forward.

But this is like asking a tiger to change his stripes. The Zapateroistas are, after all, committed socialists who have no love for either family or free enterprise.

Many aspects make this march noteworthy. The first is the unity displayed. More than 40 pro-life groups from the whole of Spain coordinated this march to send a message to the Spanish government that a very large portion of society disagreed with this new law. These same pro-life groups have opposed every abortion since 1985, when the previous socialist administration first legalized abortion in Spain.

Secondly, the 1.5 million protestors send a strong message that public opinion is firmly against abortion. The protesters constitute more than 3% of Spain’s 48 million citizens, all gathered in the capital to make a stand for Life. Consider the results of a poll by the Spanish Family Forum, which show that only 21% of Spaniards condone unrestricted abortion, while 27% seek a full abortion ban, and 50% personally oppose abortion but think it should be allowed in certain cases. This reinforces the findings of PRI’s own public opinion studies: the media battle has been lost by President Zapatero and his Socialist Party.

But the public outcry against abortion alone does not constitute reform. Many times we in the pro-life movement have thought that getting public opinion on our side would be sufficient to effect real change. This is not the case. Only 24 hours after the Madrid march, representatives of the Socialist Party in Congress spoke of continuing with the bill, regardless of the outcry, and sadly, they can force it if they choose. They have a majority due to an alliance with small portions of left-leaning representatives who have their own interest in the abortion bill. This new pro-life shift in popular opinion can’t beat the mathematical advantage of the abortion axis in Congress.

However, this very crisis is causing many citizens to make the defense of life and family a central issue in the upcoming Spanish elections, who will not content themselves with simply voting for the “lesser evil.” Over the next two and a half years leading up to the elections thfe Life issue will definitely be a defining one for politicians. Already, President Zapatero has become very unpopular with the Spanish people on account of his commitment to passing this abortion bill. Some analysts believe that the abortion issue will seriously hurt the Socialist Party in the next elections.

This issue connects us to the other major party of Spain, the Popular Party. Some of its leaders joined in the march. Many of the pro-lifers were uncomfortable with the presence of former President José  María Aznar. Though he now marches with pro-lifers, back when he was in office neither he nor anyone in his party took real action against abortion. In the final analysis, though, his fellow marchers were positive about his attendance, as it allows pro-lifers to make definite demands for the upcoming election, and they form a large majority of the Spanish people.

Today, pro-lifers in Spain have three conditions that a politician must meet to be considered a “Friend of Life.” First, he must take action to get the abortion bill removed from parliamentary debate. Second, if the bill is approved into law, he must bring an appeal to the Constitutional Court. Third, he must publicly promise to fight against abortion if elected.

For now, the Popular Party has agreed to the first and second conditions. On the third, however, they have yet to comment. Fortunately, pro-life groups now know their strength, given the massive turnout at the march, and these groups are going to make their demands heard in the next election.

Just recently, this newfound power of the pro-life people of Spain showed itself, when a slew of e-mails from members of “Right to Life” convinced the Popular Party to postpone a meeting scheduled for October 17 in Barcelona. This seems to indicate that Spanish society has grown tired of abortion, and is now capitalizing on the great power of its unity to effect change.

On October 16, at the request of the Spanish Family Forum and the National Association of Parents in Catholic Schools, the Efrat Institute published an informative piece called “The Abortion Business in Spain,” which revealed that the abortion industry has evaded paying some 50 million euros in taxes since 2007. (The Efrat Institute is a consulting and research organization concerned with the activities of public life.) The president of the Efrat Institute, David del Fresno, states: “The ‘abortion industry’ is the only industry that has public evidence of earning up to twice what they declare on their taxes without the Treasury at least opening an investigation. It’s unusual. If a normal citizen shows any disproportion between his income and his possessions, a Treasury investigator starts an audit immediately. The abortion clinics seem to be immune to this logic.

The pro-life and pro-family groups are demanding that the Treasury Minister investigate the 80 registered abortion clinics in order uncover and end the fraud. Should the Minister fail to open these investigations, there would be yet another black mark against the Socialist government on Spain’s election day.

Much has been said about the October 17th protest, especially in the pro-socialist media in Spain. But as always we believe that a picture is worth a thousand words. So we invite you to watch the video and make your own conclusions. Spain is waking up and her hopes for the future are as big as this march in Madrid.

For the Spaniards, it was far more than just a date.

It is estimated that an excess of 1,000,000 people were present in Madrid’s Colón Plaza, for the “Second Mass of the Families.”  These faithful Spainiards were present to publicly manifest their faith in the most important principles of the family: the union between one man and one woman, who defend life, starting from conception.  Some are already calling this Mass the Spanish equivalent of the annual American March for Life, held in Washington, DC.

The Mass began with a message from Pope Benedict XVI from Rome, transmitted on giant screens.  The Pope encouraged Spaniards to continue defending life and family in this difficult hour.  The celebration was presided over by the Archbishop of Madrid, Antonio Cardinal Maria Rouco Varela, alongside 30 bishops and more than 300 priests.  So large was the Mass that 500 stations for the distribution of communion were necessary.  

Families from all over Spain were present, undeterred by the cold weather.  Their intention was two-fold: to celebrate the family and to show society that many Spainiards still disagree with the government’s anti-life policies, which include greater access to abortion, euthanasia, and homosexual unions, homosexual adoptions, and the “divorce express”, among others.

The Cardinal spoke courageously and clearly, saying that it is “possible and urgent to overcome the culture of the death with the culture of life.”  He continued, saying that “it is shocking, the number of those sacrificed to the overwhelming cruelty of abortion, one of the most terrible blights on our time, a time so proud of itself and its progress.”  The emotional applause of the massed crowd was deafening — more than a million souls begging for an end to the terrible crime of abortion.

But not everything that transpired that day was friendly to the pro-life cause.  That same morning, few kilometers away, a group of young people carried out a peaceful gathering (like many others who were carried out all over Spain) in front of the Dator Clinic, a notorious Spanish abortuary.  They arrived early, put white crosses in the ground and sat down on the sidewalk, where they remained without doing anything else.  Police were present, but the pro-life protesters were determined not to give them the smallest excuse to act.

It turned out that the police did not need to wait for a reason.  All at once, without any provocation, they began to attack the seated boys and girls.  The aggression increased until they arrested Jesús Poveda, doctor and university professor, and a pro-life girl named Silvia.  They threw Jesús to the floor and handcuffed him, took them both to the police department.  According to the police report, those they arrested had “jumped over the security cord,” which is impossible, since all were seated at the time of the police attack.

In the evening both were set free, but only after being charged with aggression against authority.  In order to avoid the interpretations to which situations like this are prone, we have made available two testimonies that show the police brutality.  The first is a series of photos taken by Ignacio Arsuaga from HazteOir.com (who had to protect his camera from police who threatened to destroy it.  The second is footage from a TV channel, which shows the peacefulness of the march, and the violence of the police, who pinned Jesús Poveda to the floor and handcuffed like a criminal.

All this did not pass unnoticed by Spain’s socialist government, led by president Zapatero.  To counter the powerful words of Cardinal Rouco, members of the Zapatero’s party publicly ramped up their pro-abortion rhetoric.  According to statements given to EuropaPress, Ramon Jáuregui, secretary of the socialist majority in the congress, intends to push legislation that will make abortion legal in the first 12 weeks of gestation, solely according to the wish of the mother.  No further reason will be required (see the video).

To say the least, this law, if passed, will favor abortion businesses like the Dator Clinic.

As a result of the weekend, it is clear that an epic battle has begun in Spain, a battle within the larger culture war.  In this war, as usual, the most vulnerable in society are the first at risk.

Right now the Spanish congress, dominated by Zapatero’s party, is debating a liberalization of Spain’s abortion laws. Abortion is supposedly legal only for cases of rape, “fetal defect,” and danger to the mother’s physical or psychological health. In the case of rape and fetal defect the law allows abortions between 12 and 22 first weeks of pregnancy. For the “health” exception, however, there are no time limits.

But the socialists want more.

Zapatero’s party commission was able to proceed without any problems until the testimony of Eduardo Hertfelder, the president of Spain’s Institute of Family Policy. With the aid of detailed diagrams, Hertfelder showed how abortion has actually increased in Spain over the last 10 years, to more than double its original rate. He also showed how abortion is the the principle cause of death in Spain and of violence against women. The evidence showed that 97% of abortions are performed because of a “risk to the woman’s psychological health,” which essentially allows abortion to be performed at any time.

Based on these findings, Hertfelder showed that abortion has increased so much in Spain that, calculating only until December 2006, 1,225,000 abortions have been performed in Spain. The socialist argument–that liberalized abortion laws will lead to fewer abortions–rings hollow in the face of the numbers. The fact of the matter is, the law is already flexible enough to allow abortion on demand, but the abortion rate still increases and increases.

Zapatero’s party commission was able to proceed without any problems until the testimony of Eduardo Hertfelder, the president of Spain’s Institute of Family Policy. With the aid of detailed diagrams, Hertfelder showed how abortion has actually increased in Spain over the last 10 years, to more than double its original rate. He also showed how abortion is the the principle cause of death in Spain and of violence against women. The evidence showed that 97% of abortions are performed because of a “risk to the woman’s psychological health,” which essentially allows abortion to be performed at any time.

Based on these findings, Hertfelder showed that abortion has increased so much in Spain that, calculating only until December 2006, 1,225,000 abortions have been performed in Spain. The socialist argument–that liberalized abortion laws will lead to fewer abortions–rings hollow in the face of the numbers. The fact of the matter is, the law is already flexible enough to allow abortion on demand, but the abortion rate still increases and increases

The socialists also argue that they want to be equal to other European nations, insisting that the rest of Europe is more liberal than Spain on the topic of abortion. But Hertfelder demonstrated with numbers and data that this is simply not the case. The two countries that allow abortion by risk of the health of the mother, without any time limits, are Spain and Greece. As for the rest, two out of three of the rest of the EU nations require abortion to be justified by stricter standards. Many of them have instated waiting periods and required consultations before granting permission to abort.

Thus, the Socialist argument collapses on a second count: not everyone in Europe has laws as permissive as the ones the Socialist Party wants to implement in Spain.

At the end of Hertfelder’s exhibition, the Socialist leader of the congressional commission accused Hertfelder of manipulating his data. This accusation is ridiculous because the information is readily available on the Internet, as well as being officially used for years by the European Parliament. The accusation represented an enormous breach of Congressional protocol, and the opposition party expressed anger and disappointment with Zapatero’s authoritarian attitude.

After his presentation, Hertfelder said, “I got the impression that the socialist deputies were very nervous. This attitude demonstrates that the Socialist Party does not want a debate. They are rooted in ideological sectarianism and only interested in hearing that which supports their theses.”

In order to support his words, Hertfelder showed that while in France the abortion rate increased to 5% and in England 9%, in Spain the increase was 53%. In addition, according to a survey published by the newspaper The World, 57% of Spaniards do not want a more liberal abortion law. But listening to the people is not the style of Zapatero or his government.

The near future can be very well described by a quote from Jim Hoagland in a Washington Post column, where he said that “If Obama needs a European to ride shotgun, as Tony Blair did with Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Zapatero may be the one.”

If this is the case, the battle for life over the next several years will be clear.