UPDATE - Spanish gov't launches legal challenge over region's anti-abortion measures

UPDATES WITH APPROVAL OF REQUIREMENT OF INCOMPETENCE; ADDS REMARKS FROM VOX; CHANGES HEAD, LEDE; REVISES THROUGHOUT

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ISTANBUL (AA) - Spain's Council of Ministers on Tuesday agreed to send the government of Castile and Leon a requirement of incompetence, the first step to take the regional executive to the Constitutional Court, over planned anti-abortion measures.

"One more step in the action to defend the freedoms and reproductive rights of women," government spokeswoman Isabel Rodriguez said at a press conference as she announced the decision following the meeting.

The central government is "not going to allow even one millimeter to go backward in terms of women's rights," Rodriguez said.

She noted that doctors could not be forced to give recommendations or extra tests to women who have already decided to terminate their pregnancy.

The requirement of incompetence gives the regional government of Alfonso Fernandez Manueco a month to reply to the measure, which states that it has no authority to make a decision that would violate or undermine the rights enshrined in Spain's law of voluntary interruption of pregnancy, news agency EFE reported, citing the secretary of state for communication.

Castile and Leon's Vice President Juan Garcia-Gallardo on Thursday announced new "pro-life" measures championed by his far-right Vox party, aimed at preventing abortion.

Garcia-Gallardo said the health protocol for pregnant women would "immediately" change and that under the new rules, doctors would be obliged to tell pregnant women, including those seeking to terminate their pregnancies, that they could listen to the fetus' heartbeat, view it in a 4D ultrasound or receive psychological support.

Although Manueco from the center-right Popular Party (PP) contradicted Garcia-Gallardo on Monday by announcing that there would be no change in protocols for pregnant women seeking abortion, the Vox on Tuesday refused to "take any step back" on the anti-abortion plan.

In an interview on broadcaster La 2, Ignacio Garriga, the general secretary of Vox, threatened to leave the regional executive if the PP failed to comply.

"If the agreements are not fulfilled, we will have to review if we continue in the government," Garriga said.

The new "pro-life" measures were expected to take effect on Monday in the region, but Spain's central government promised legal challenges.

Changes to the pregnancy protocol have not been received by hospitals in Castile and Leon or published in the official state gazette, according to the Spanish daily El Pais.

Castile and Leon is the first and only Spanish region governed, in part, by Vox.

After elections in 2022, Vox joined a coalition government with the traditional right-wing Popular Party in the region.

In Spain, abortion is legal upon request during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. It is also available later for situations where the woman's or fetus' health is at risk.

A reform to the abortion law to make it easier for women has been passed by parliament but still needs to be approved by the Senate.