Spain's new Socialist government agreed to offer free reproductive treatment to lesbians and single women, restoring a benefit cancelled by the conservative administration it toppled in June.
ADVERTISEMENTSpain’s new Socialist government agreed to offer free reproductive treatment to lesbians and single women on Friday, restoring a benefit cancelled by the conservative administration it toppled in June. The austerity-minded government of former premier Mariano Rajoy took away free fertility treatment for those groups in 2014.
The announcement rounded off a string of measures made during Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s first weeks in power.
So far, Sanchez's government has taken in two migrant rescue boats that were refused port by neighboring countries, named a female-dominated cabinet and pledged to train judges on gender issues.
“Today the misogyny is over,” state secretary for equality Soledad Murillo tweeted.
After its approval at a cabinet meeting on Friday, which coincided with LGBTI pride celebrations in Madrid, the measure will come into effect in January 2019.
Spain has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe. Last year the total number of deaths outpaced the number of births at the fastest pace since records began in 1941.