Woman returns autographed photo of Spanish King after he signed law on abortion

Madrid, Spain, Apr 8, 2010 / 19:55 pm

A flight attendant recently sent back a signed photo of the King of Spain after he signed the country's new law lifting several restrictions on abortion.

In a letter accompanying the picture, the flight attendant, Maria Belen Lopez, explained that it was “with great sorrow and disappointment” that she return the photograph to King Juan Carlos  because “a picture of the supposedly Catholic monarch” who supports Spain's new law on abortion, “can no longer reside in my home.”

Belen Lopez served the Spanish king and queen on their first flight to Rome.

“Today, I feel a moral obligation to return this picture that I have treasured with great affection and pride” and has always “occupied a prominent place in my home,” Belen Lopez said.  She remarked that she always considered the monarchy to be “an important source of balance and reconciliation” for Spain.

Belen Lopez continued to say that while “somebody could rightfully point out to me that our Constitution obliges you to sign any law passed by the House of Representatives, nevertheless, in the same way that you have so aptly found shortcuts to get around the Constitution on certain occasions in the not-to-distant past, so also now could you have employed that brilliant skill to avoid this murderous law that offends the sensibilities and the dignity of so many Spaniards.”

She recalled that the new law on abortion abandons women, undermines the authority of the parents of pregnant underage girls, frees men from all responsibility and “pits one half of Spain against the other.”

More than 60,000 people singed a petition urging the King not sign the bill into law, however he put his signature to the new measure at the beginning of March.

The law will take effect in July.