Spanish justice minister resigns after failure of abortion law

Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón announced on 23 September 2014 his resignation not just from his ministerial position but from politics altogether.

His announcement came four hours after Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy confirmed that the new abortion law would be shelved, given that it had not found sufficient consensus to be moved ahead.

The highly controversial bill created an internal rift in the conservative PP and also attracted significant criticism from the opposition for taking Spain back 30 years in terms of abortion legislation.

• Primary Source

Euronews, 23.09.14: Spain drops controversial law restricting abortion http://www.euronews.com/2014/09/23/spain-drops-controversial-law-restricting-abortion/

Deutsche Welle, 23.09.14: Spanish minister resigns over scrapped abortion bill http://dw.de/p/1DJMz

The Guardian, 23.09.14: Spain abandons plan to introduce tough new abortion laws http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/23/spain-abandons-plan-introduce-tough-new-abortion-laws

BBC News, 23.09.14: Spain abortion: Rajoy scraps tighter law http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-29322561

Le Quotidien, 25.09.14: Abortion: Spain overcomes political divide (via Euro|Topics) http://www.eurotopics.net/en/home/presseschau/archiv/aehnliche/archiv_article/ARTICLE151020-Abortion-Spain-overcomes-political-divide

Diário de Notícias, 24.09.14: Anti-abortion fanatic defeated (via Euro|Topics) http://www.eurotopics.net/en/home/presseschau/archiv/aehnliche/archiv_article/ARTICLE150918-Anti-abortion-fanatic-defeated

The Local.es, 23.09.14: Spain scraps plans for tough new abortion law http://www.thelocal.es/20140923/spain-scraps-plans-for-tough-new-abortion-law

Euronews, 28.09.14: Abortion law defeat celebrated in Spain by Women’s parades http://www.euronews.com/2014/09/28/abortion-law-defeat-celebrated-in-spain-by-women-s-parades/

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