The Obregón case has revived the debate on surrogacy in such a way that it has pushed it to the center of the electoral pre-campaign. The Government and the parties strive to mark their positions and reproach the contrary on a tricky issue that is going to return to the Congress of Deputies, since while Ciudadanos has announced this Thursday that it will reactivate its law to regulate surrogacy, the PSOE raises toughen the current regulations to "prevent" people from going abroad to request this type of service and then registering the babies in the Spanish registry. All while in the PP they now consider that "this is not the time" to deal serenely with this issue.
The president of the Popular Party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has considered it necessary this Thursday to open a debate in public opinion to address and "order" surrogacy, although he considers that "this is not the time" now. "In Spain, surrogacy is illegal, but there are Spaniards who are doing it" abroad and registering their children in our country, the leader of the opposition has considered, so "it must be discussed, but it is not the main problem we have now in Spain".
One day after the PP opened up to regulate surrogacy as long as it is altruistic and there is no "commodification", the president of the formation has asserted that this is not yet his firm position: "There is no more pronouncement from the PP I have to say that it is a debate that is on the table and that it must be ordered", Feijóo has settled from Lisbon. Precisely, the popular leader has given Portugal as an example, a country in which surrogacy is legal with certain "conditions".
Thus, the PP clings to the position on this aspect that came out of the last ordinary organic congress held, in 2018. There it was established that the formation was committed to opening a serious and serene debate, together with the rest of the social actors and groups of experts involved in this issue, about surrogacy.
Minutes before Feijóo's assessment from Lisbon, the second vice president of the Executive, Yolanda Díaz, charged against the position of the PP and even defined as a "historical error" on Feijóo's part that the formation was willing to regulate surrogacy as long as there is no sale. "It seems very serious to me that the Popular Party is making a mistake by placing itself on the ground of violating the rights of those most in need," Díaz said at his entrance to Congress, in line with what was stated this Wednesday both by the Minister for Equality, Irene Montero, as well as that of the Treasury, María Jesús Montero.
"In Spain the regulation is very clear, what the regulation guarantees is the fact that women do not become means but rather are an end in themselves and not a means to the end of other people by becoming entities pregnant women", said the Minister of Science, Diana Morant, who has asserted that the Government is not willing to negotiate on this matter: "There is no debate".
While the PP tries to postpone the debate on the matter, other parties take it to the center of the news. Ciudadanos has taken the opportunity to reactivate its law to regulate surrogacy and has presented it again this Thursday at the doors of Congress. "There are parties that have found out about the surrogacy in this case," denounced the parliamentary leader of the Liberals, Inés Arrimadas, in the direction of the PP, which she has accused of "looking the other way" and not giving a concrete answer. to this reality that thousands of Spanish families go through every year.
Ciudadanos is an experienced party in this matter. This proposition was already presented in 2017 and 2019. In this case, the law registered this Thursday is identical in terms of the content of the latest version, despite having been revised at a technical level, as explained by the party. In any case, the norm, which asks to limit the exercise of surrogacy to between 25 and 45 years, would not prevent the case of Ana Obregón, who at 68 years old has traveled to Miami to carry out the procedure, and subsequently register her daughter on record.
The Liberals, in any case, demand that surrogacy be carried out in an "altruistic and guaranteed" manner, and charge against the PP's change of position in less than 24 hours: "They take one step forward and two back", has defined the president of Ciudadanos, Patricia Guasp, present at the registration of the norm in the Lower House.
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