The anti-abortion movement in 21st-century Spain: the leadership of lay Christian groups and their de facto alliance with the Roman Catholic Church

Abstract

Even though no relevant evidence exists about the revival of religion in the European public sphere, certain «moral policies», such as those dealing with the regulation of abortion, have unleashed the protest of Christian-inspired lay groups, advocacy coalitions and churches. Social mobilization against this type of policies is not surprising in democracy, but one of the new traits of the antiabortion protest over the last decades is that it has been led by social groups and experts, not connected with the church, who emphasize scientific, rather than moral or religious arguments. On their part, churches in different countries have played different roles: unlike other religious institutions, the Spanish Catholic church (SCC) has clearly played the role of an adversarial interest group and has been de facto an important ally of Christian social groups. The adversarial strategy of the organized Christian world is basically due to the new Socialist agenda (2004-11), which has stressed morally-sensitive issues such as the liberalization of abortion, same-sex marriage and the subject of Education for Citizenry. The analysis of Christian social group shows however that important differences regarding their framings and repertoires are to be found. Likewise, relevant overlapping membership between these groups and the SCC can be detected, even though both actors have reiterated that no formal links exist between them. Finally, that religion in secularized societies may become a public issue should there be religiously-inspired actors who successfully mobilize Conservative sectors in the society which express a high intensity of preferences in the face of morally-laden policies, is another finding to be borne in mind.