Spanish officials allow pro-life play, despite criticism

Madrid, Spain, Jan 16, 2012 / 15:53 pm

Officials in Merida, Spain have rejected a request by local Socialist party leaders to ban the theatrical production “Vidiana. An Abortion Clinic,” which opened Jan. 14.

The play tells the story of eight women who decide not to go through with their abortion plans.
 
According to Europa Press, the United Left political party in Merida was the first to call for the play to be banned. Socialist party leaders quickly followed suit, as party representative Marisa Tena issued a press release calling on the city to stop the debut.

Tena also criticized local city council member Angel Pelayo, who called Spain’s new law on abortion “unjust and unnecessary.” Pelayo should “put aside his personal opinions and beliefs” and as a public official not support “actions contrary to the law,” Tena argued.
 
A spokesman for the city government, Fernando Molina, told reporters that city officials have “never” enacted “this kind of censorship” of “theatrical works, no matter what their content.”

“We are not going to veto any work because of its content,” as that would “be against freedom of expression,” he said.
 
The play is being promoted by the Pro-Life Madrid Association and will be performed in various venues in Spain.  During a press conference on Jan. 10, members of the association, together with the director of the play, Isidro Leyva, and city council member Angel Pelayo, said the play recounts the stories of eight pregnant women.
 
All are willing to have an abortion except one, who in the end convinces the rest not to do so, thus “casting a spotlight on the new abortion law.”
 
Leyva said the play is not recommended for children under 16 as it has a very “descriptive storyline with intense scenes which explain, for example, how an abortion is performed.”
 
Pelayo said a law allowing a 16-year-old girl to get an abortion without parental consent was wrong and that abortion is “something evil and undesirable for women.”