The Family Department of Orihuela City Council is once again in the news for how it runs things. This time, the department, which is run by Vox councillor María Carmen Portugal, is being questioned for giving the anti-abortion group RedMadre a €10,000 grant.
A group that has been accused of bullying women who choose to end their pregnancies
This group has been linked to harassment at abortion clinics several times, and it is also known to be an ultraconservative Catholic group. The Orihuela Feminist Collective Sororidad has spoken out against what it sees as “a political line marked by setbacks in terms of equality and reproductive rights” for all of these reasons.
Sororidad says, “This group claims to be a support network for pregnant women, but what it really promotes is a discourse that questions women’s autonomy and their right to decide about motherhood, which are basic rights recognised by Spanish law and by feminist movements.”
The feminist group also says that this isn’t the only time the Orihuela City Council has collaborated with RedMadre and ProVida to plan an event. They did the same thing for the “Committed Families” event. Also, Portugal’s department brought RedMadre into the municipality’s Family Forum. “By doing these things, the City Council is giving these groups an institutional legitimacy that goes against the fact that public policies should be secular,” Sororidad says.
Steps that don’t take into account family variety
The group has also spoken out against the new birth grants, which give €1,000 each birth in Orihuela. They said, “We regret that this is an exclusionary, unequal, and paternalistic measure that does not respond to the real needs of families in Orihuela.” These funds are given out on a first-come, first-served basis, not based on need or financial status. This means that they don’t go to the people who need them the most. They say that this subsidy only covers biological births and not adoptive families or other types of parenting. “They are reinforcing a single, traditional family model, excluding the existing family diversity in our society.”
These kinds of programs, which are sold as promoting mothers, push a conservative and patriarchal view that makes women less autonomous and diverse by reducing them to their reproductive role. Sororidad laments that public money is being used to support religious groups that promote ideas that go against women’s rights. They say that this money should be used to meet real social needs, such as work-life balance, shared responsibility, public care services, decent jobs, and housing.
A request for thought
Sororidad feels that institutional support for these efforts is a clear step back in the progress made in equality and human rights because they put sexual and reproductive rights first. So, they want the Orihuela City Council to:
Think about whether you want to work with religious and anti-abortion groups again, and take back any financial or institutional support.
Based on social justice standards, redesign family assistance programs to put families with the most financial needs first and recognise various types of family and parenting.
Support feminist, inclusive, and secular governmental policies that protect women’s freedom and actual equality from the pressure of traditional and moralistic models.
“We ask the people of Orihuela to think about how important it is to support policies that really help women and families of all kinds and make Orihuela a fairer, freer, and more equal place.” The statement ends with, “The Sororidad Orihuela Feminist Collective will keep working with local social and community groups to build a society that values equality, diversity, and the freedom to choose.”
Author: Derek Appleton
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