Canarian Weekly
17-04-2015, 11:20
Pedro Sanchez has been forced to apologize after making a voting mistake in a key vote. The Socialist Party leader, the main opposition to Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party accidentally voted for a proposal on abortion that his own party is against.
Sanchez says he pressed the wrong button during the important vote on whether to debate a law requiring minors to get parental permission before getting an abortion.
The faux pas didn’t have any difference on the vote which was passed easily due to the PP’s parliamentary majority. But it was very embarrassing for Sanchez, especially with important local and regional elections taking place next month. “I deeply regret my error” Sanchez said. “I am firm in my commitment to the freedom of women aged under 18. I have always publicly defended it. I apologise for the error.”
He faced ridicule on social media for the gaffe and some social commentators compared him to Homer Simpson who once avoided a nuclear meltdown by guessing which button to press in an emergency.
The abortion laws remain mired in controversy in Spain and they could be a crucial topic in the national elections in November. Last year the PP ditched plans to allow the abortion procedure to take place in the first 14 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy.
It would have limited abortion to cases of rape or where the mother’s health is at serious risk. However they are tweaking restrictions on 16 and 17-year-olds seeking abortions and a new law could be place as early as June.
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/sanchez-abortion-blunder/)
Sanchez says he pressed the wrong button during the important vote on whether to debate a law requiring minors to get parental permission before getting an abortion.
The faux pas didn’t have any difference on the vote which was passed easily due to the PP’s parliamentary majority. But it was very embarrassing for Sanchez, especially with important local and regional elections taking place next month. “I deeply regret my error” Sanchez said. “I am firm in my commitment to the freedom of women aged under 18. I have always publicly defended it. I apologise for the error.”
He faced ridicule on social media for the gaffe and some social commentators compared him to Homer Simpson who once avoided a nuclear meltdown by guessing which button to press in an emergency.
The abortion laws remain mired in controversy in Spain and they could be a crucial topic in the national elections in November. Last year the PP ditched plans to allow the abortion procedure to take place in the first 14 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy.
It would have limited abortion to cases of rape or where the mother’s health is at serious risk. However they are tweaking restrictions on 16 and 17-year-olds seeking abortions and a new law could be place as early as June.
More... (http://www.canarianweekly.com/sanchez-abortion-blunder/)