The Assembly of Associations for Life, which brings together more than 130 organizations that work together for life, its dignity and freedom, has gathered partners and media to report on the next steps to be taken to expose the alleged lack of the required judicial impartiality when it comes to the abortion law enlargement issued by the Spanish Constitutional Court on May 9.
The Councilor of the Presidency, Justice and Local Administration and Spokesperson of the Government, Mr. Miguel Ángel García Martín, has had
the courtesy of greeting the attendees at the Real Casa de Postas. Francisco La Moneda, jurist and Doctor in Law, began by recalling that, on March 16, “for the first time in our democratic history, civil society filed a complaint before our highest court requesting that the judges involved in causes of recusal be removed from this procedure”, a letter that never received a response, “and it is equally exceptional how this sentence has affected the image of impartiality of the Court”.
The jurist stressed that in the Spanish legal system “there is no presumed right to abortion and, beyond that, the work of the Constitutional Court is to interpret the law but not to establish rights”. La Moneda insisted that the grounds for recusal are not political or ideological, but rather respond to technical-legal reasons.
It is for this reason that while the legal work to go to the European Court of Human Rights continues, the Assembly of Associations for Life, Liberty and Dignity, in accordance with the impartiality required by European standards, will undertake the following actions:
- Submit to the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament a complaint about the failure of the four judges of the Constitutional Court to abstain from voting.
- Present a letter denouncing this situation contrary to the rule of law before the EU Commissioner for Justice.
Federico Trillo, jurist and state lawyer, stressed that today’s event is not an act against anyone and even less against women, but on the contrary “it is about reaffirming and uniting all those who want to work for the main right, the right to life”. The former minister quoted Julian Marias, who defined “the social acceptance of abortion as the most serious thing that has happened this century” and encouraged associations to work to denounce abortion an evil that can never be a right.
Trillo focused on the double trap of the sentence of 2023, where they say they do not feel bound by the previous jurisprudence of the Court itself, which once included the right to life and, on the other hand, they declare a right to abortion that affects a legally protected right, i.e. the right to life.
Before concluding, Trillo proposed a tribute to Judge Concepción Espejel for her request for abstention which, although not admitted by the Court, pointed out all the reasons why the impartiality of the court was lost in this decision. “For 13 years they delayed the response to the appeal to the ruling on abortion because they were waiting to have a court made up of people who defend it,” he concluded.
“We have been deprived of the right to have impartial judges to decide on a fundamental right: the right to life,” was the initial message of Benigno Blanco, a jurist and former secretary of state, who warned of the seriousness of the Constitutional Court claiming to create rights.
In these circumstances and in the absence of confidence that the state and the courts will defend life, Blanco encouraged civil society to defend it: “Let each one of us make sure that the commitment to life, the value of motherhood and the life of the unborn child grows in our environment”.
Ramón Rodríguez Arribas, as a former judge and vice-president of the Constitutional Court, former judge of the Supreme Court and president of the Professional Association of the Judiciary and the International Association of Judges, wanted to focus on the obligation of every judge to be independent and impartial and how the lack of impartiality leads to mar their decisions.
“In the 2023 decision there are 4 judges clearly marked by their lack of impartiality who have issued a decision tainted by their partiality.” The magistrate valued the decision of 1985, which was in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and complained that a right (the alleged right to abortion) has been constituted from a lie.
Rodríguez Arribas closed his speech by stressing that “The defense of life against abortion is not the patrimony of Catholics. Thou shalt not kill is for all people.”
José Luis Requero Ibáñez, a justice of the Supreme Court and member of the General Council of the Judiciary (2001-2008), following the line expressed by the previous speakers, presented the reality of the Constitutional Court: “History tells us that it does not act as a court of justice.”
Josep Miró i Ardevoll, coordinator of the Assembly for Life and president of E-Christians, closed the event by quoting Deuteronomy, “Justice and only justice you shall seek,” calling on the attendees to continue in their struggle to defend life, as the first and fundamental right.