«I have always been in favor of abolishing prostitution, but shielding women»
Irene Montero (Madrid, 34 years old) ends the week with some stiffness due to the intense political tug-of-war with her socialist government partners, but without being able to hide her satisfaction. The law of ‘only yes is yes’, one of the stars of the legislature, will be approved on Thursday by the plenary session of Congress after walking for hours on Wednesday over the precipice and the new abortion law received the approval of the Council of Ministers including much of the content promoted from Igualdad.
-Will the Senate have time to ratify the ‘only yes is yes’ law for the sixth anniversary of the attack by La Manada (July 7)?
-What is certain is that next week it will be approved by the plenary session of Congress with broad support. Feminist laws are the ones that are generating the most consensus. It is a historical law. It will guarantee all rights to all victims of sexual violence. The final approval will depend on the Senate groups, but the more urgent they are, of course, the better.
– Do you have enough allies to remove the abortion law?
-I have no doubt. The feminist majority in Congress, the same one that is going to approve the ‘only yes or yes’ law, will continue to be there.
-Would it be necessary to extend the work license due to the incapacitating rule to other realities such as classes and exams?
-It is a necessary debate that must be addressed. It was important that the new abortion law recognize the right of women not to go writhing in pain to work. The law does not extend the right to institutes or universities, but I think that, effectively, it is going to be a demand that gains weight among the students.
-And what are you going to do?
-We will have to debate it and think about how to make it possible.
– Are you afraid that the Constitutional will conclude that girls of 16 and 17 years old must ask their parents for permission to abort?
-The Constitutional Court should respect advances in women’s rights. Unfortunately, we see countries like the US in which their judges act in a reactionary way, trying to turn around conquered rights. In this time full of uncertainties, we need institutions to side with women. They must be guaranteed the right to decide on their body. If the Constitutional acts against, the truth, it would be rare. It would be very rare for him to wait 12 years to say that a law is unconstitutional. But, in any case, we send a message to women: whatever the Constitution says, this Government is here to guarantee and extend their rights.
-If you had a 16-year-old daughter who was going to have an abortion, would you like me to consult you?
-Of course. I would like you to count on me to accompany you. The law does not say that girls of 16 and 17 years do not inform their parents. What it says is that the decision is yours. The provisions of the Patient Autonomy Law continue, which grants the ability to decide on life or death interventions without parental consent from the age of 16. But I believe that the majority of young people are not only going to inform but they will be accompanied by the people they love the most.
THE PHRASES:
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Constitutional Court.
“Whatever you say, the Government is here to guarantee the rights of Spanish women” -
abortion.
«If I had a 16-year-old daughter I would like her to let me accompany her, but it would be her decision»
-Are you in favor of fining the whoremongers?
-Yes. I am in favor of fining them and prosecuting them criminally. But I also say that, to discourage demand, we must above all deploy awareness and prevention measures. It is necessary to toughen the Penal Code, but so are policies that identify the victims, give them opportunities and guarantee their rights. That is what the government is doing the most. The ‘only yes is yes’ law defines sexual exploitation and trafficking as forms of sexist violence and, therefore, all victims will have the right to care, psychological, legal and economic help, job placement or accommodation; whether or not they are in an irregular situation and whether or not they file a complaint.
– Will you support in Congress the abolition of prostitution proposed by the PSOE?
-It is that this proposal is going to add efforts to the efforts that the Government is already making in that line, with the president at the head, to walk the path towards the abolition of prostitution. What the PSOE has incorporated into this initiative are several changes to the Penal Code that Equality has been proposing for two years now, the persecution of non-coercive pimping and the recovery of the crime of locative third party, to end the impunity of the prostitution industry. We have made more than 20 redactions of these criminal types to try to find a consensus among the parliamentary groups. It is evident that the Penal Code has to be reformed and we must continue the debate with all the groups.
The trans law is not touched
-Are you in favor of approving an abolitionist reform?
-I have always been it. The debate is how do we effectively go after the pimp industry and how do we ensure women’s rights. The modifications of the Penal Code can never serve to criminalize or prosecute them. You don’t have to raise your vulnerability to be an abolitionist. We must agree on an absolute shield, so that the legal changes we make do not harm these women even more, much less criminalize them or their families. But I think that the will of the groups is to try the agreement. Respecting this double objective, I believe that we can bring together women who have different positions on prostitution, including regulationists and abolitionists, but we are clear that a pact is possible to persecute the pimp industry that at the same time guarantees the rights of women.
-Will the text of the trans law approved by the Executive limit gender self-determination to those over 18, as requested by the CGPJ?
I am not in favor of making this change. The Judiciary issued a report that is mandatory, but not binding, and this body has opposed all feminist laws. He has never been in favor of any advancement of the rights of women or LGTBI people. I believe that the text that we agreed upon within the Government was the result of a negotiation that was already hard enough, difficult and long enough for us to respect it. The text that we agreed upon has to reach Congress as it is and do it before the summer. That is my commitment.
–The trafficking law is just an initial draft. Do you really believe that there is any chance that it will be approved before the Cortes are dissolved?
“There should be, and for that we need to run. The Ministry of Equality delivered the draft to the majority partner of the Government, the PSOE, in January. It is necessary to negotiate the text urgently, precisely because it is a comprehensive anti-trafficking law, which will come to the rescue of the victims. It is very urgent that the PSOE begins to negotiate and we can take the law to the Council of Ministers as soon as possible.
– Do you think that the socialist leaders are making you pay for your displeasure at losing the Ministry of Equality?
-I’m not going to enter. Honestly, I think that what is up to Podemos in the Government, and what is up to me as Minister of Equality, is to respond to the best that this country has, which is the feminist movement, and also show that when we say more Government, more coalition, what it means is that when PSOE and Podemos govern jointly, women’s rights are extended in an unprecedented way in our country, except in the legislature of President Zapatero. That people can feel that the State, the institutions, are there to make life easier. That if you have a problem because you have a disabling rule or because you don’t have the possibility of reconciling, there is a public policy that is the Co-Responsible Plan, for example. Because the important thing is that with all the debates and the differences that we have, and that we are also going to continue to have because we are different political formations, people know that when we govern in coalition, women have more rights, women can live better and women they can know that their daughters or granddaughters are going to grow up in a country with more rights. Two years ago it was unthinkable to intervene in the rental market. It was unthinkable to have a minimum vital income. It was unthinkable to have a minimum salary of 1,000 euros. It was unthinkable to be able to have three feminist laws in development and that are going to be approved in this legislature or the first public conciliation policy, such as the Corresponsables Plan. It was unthinkable. That is what this coalition government does and that is what it is.
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