The Government finally agreed, after some tensions between PSOE and Podemos, the preliminary draft law on abortion that returns the right to decide on the interruption of pregnancy to young women between the ages of 16 and 18 (whom a previous reform considered immature to take this decision but not to raise a child) and, among other provisions, seeks to guarantee close public attention throughout the territory. But the bulk of the controversy has focused on the recognition of the sick leave for rules that cause disabling pain: the same definition should put an end to any doubt about its opportunity, with a medical diagnosis that supports it and an administrative mechanism that does not hinder its management.
Even incorporating supervening measures to the main object of the law, there are limits that make it difficult for this legal container to include some of the initial provisions of the Ministry of Equality, such as the international persecution of the hiring of surrogate wombs – hardly feasible without passing for a reform of the Penal Code– or the reduction of VAT on health products linked to menstruation, which requires a new approach in the negotiation of the Budgets. A conflict with the Treasury that must be addressed, since the offense of maintaining a VAT rate for essential products that is higher than that of other products or services that may not meet these conditions and that must necessarily be reconsidered is not sustainable.