On December 1 and 2, the Senate will host the VI Summit of an international organization of anti-abortion politicians, called the Values Policy Network. This organization’s website promotes the event by including the Upper House as a “collaborating entity.” However, sources from the Senate presidency categorically deny this: “We only left the room“If they put this forward, it’s for advertising and propaganda.”
The truth is that the entity is chaired by the controversial Chilean far-right leader José Antonio Kast, fervent admirer of dictator Augusto Pinochet and featured speaker at a Vox gathering.
It is also relevant that, Among the speakers expected at these two days of meetings is the former Minister of the Interior of the PP. Jaime Mayor Orejahonorary president of the Political Network for Values and leader of NEOS, an organization of Spanish right-wing anti-abortion Catholic groups.
This Tuesday, a controversy broke out when PSOE senators publicly distanced themselves from a decision adopted by their representatives in the Senatorial Council on July 17. The socialists claim that they have ignored this request and They voted for “without reading” the fileas published in the newspaper The country.
However, popular sources in the House explain that “They had the information since July 12, five days to read it to themand now they try to distance themselves from their decision by blaming others. ” This is indicated in the minutes of the session, as well as other transfers of spaces to the parliamentary seat, such as the presentation of a book.
Other great hosts
On the other hand, the summit of this organization, which requested a room in the Senate to celebrate the event, has always had prestigious hosts. It took place twice in the United Nations Headquartersone in the European Parliament at its headquarters in Brussels, another in Bogota Capitoland one more in Budapest.
“If they cite us as collaborators, it will be because they consider that we collaborated by giving way,” explains the aforementioned source from the Senate presidency. “But here, the only thing that happens is that The same was done with other eventslike those of the Order of Lawyers, the Order of Physicians, firefighter associations…”.
The controversy lies in the far-right nature of the organization and its consideration of abortion as “murder”.
This organization advocates the so-called heart rhythm laws, to fight against against “this growing, but not unstoppable, trend to enshrine abortion as a right“. These laws, already in force in certain American states, prohibit the voluntary termination of pregnancy as soon as the first signs of cardiac activity in the fetus are detected. That is to say around six weeks.
For freedom and the culture of life is the title of this edition of the summit, according to what the organization announced on its website. Its principles indicate that the defense of life must be done “from conception”.
The senate does not evaluate the content of the programand refers to the result of the vote of the seven members of the Council last July: “They voted unanimously for it,” insists this spokesperson. The governing body of the Upper House has four members of the PP and three of the PSOEgiven the absolute majority that the People’s Party has in the Senate.
In the authorization, according to the minutes, it is only added that “without generating expenses borne by the Chamber and without prejudice to the subsequent fixing of the date of celebration of the event”, since the date of December did not appear in the authorization made in July.
PSOE sources then clarified to Efe that it was not that the socialist representatives voted in favor, but rather that in a successive reading of the contracts and administrative and management authorizations granted to various entities They didn’t realize what an association called PNfV represented.and then if they do not expressly oppose it, nothing is voted on and nothing other than the authorization is reflected in the minutes.
However, as already mentioned above, they had the file five days before.