Study: The family, greatly harmed after 46 years of the Spanish Constitution

An investigation by the Center for Studies, Training and Social Analysis, linked to the Catholic Association of Propagandists, indicates that the institution of the family has been greatly harmed by the Spanish Constitution, approved on December 6, 1978.

In their conclusions, the authors of the report assure that “either the constituent politicians went too far as being do-gooders and trying to please, or those who governed Spain from 1979 onwards – many of whom participated in the constituent process -, with some areas of light, they have not done well for the family in relation to essential issues.”

“The family in Spain is now much weaker than it was traditionally in our country prior to the constituent stage of 1977-1978,” the study highlights.

This weakness is manifested in relation to the formation of families, their stability “and above all, and closely linked to the above, it is in relation to something lethal for society if it is not corrected: the low fertility rate.”

As a consequence, there has been “great emotional impoverishment and high rates of loneliness in childhood (due to lack of siblings and often one of the parents in the home, usually the father), and in adulthood and old age ( for not living with a stable partner and/or not having children).”

The study Constitution and family: a failed principle Among his conclusions, he states that not all responsibility falls on politicians, for several reasons.

Firstly, because intellectuals, academics and opinion makers “with few exceptions, have spoken little and warned little about the collapse of the family and the birth rate in the last 45 years.”

Also because “the Spaniards have repeatedly supported, in a very majority way at the polls, politicians who have not known how or wanted to defend the family and support birth rates.”

And, thirdly, because “politics is not everything. Businessmen and workers, and civil society in general, also count a lot in the future of societies” and, in general, “each individual Spaniard has been essentially free to want to marry or not, to divorce – if applicable – or not. , to have children or not, to abort or not.”

Divorce in Spain

“The data on divorce in Spain since it became legal are not exactly the story of success in protecting the family in the last 45 years,” the study points out. In Spain, divorce was approved in 1981 (with conditions and requiring a valid reason). In 2005, a new law was passed that allows divorce basically upon request three months after the marriage was formalized.

Thus, the number of divorces per 100 weddings in 13 of the last 18 years has exceeded 60% and at least 50% of marriages end in breakdown. Of them, “a third separate before 20 years of marriage and a fifth, in the first 10 years.”

The report also points out that “since 1981, around three million legal marriages have broken down, and 3.5 to 4 million children and young people have been directly affected by the separation of their parents” and that “at least 1, 5 million married adults have been divorced since 1981 against their will.”

On the other hand, it is noted that “the first-nuptial rate of Spaniards does not reach 50%, which indicates that less than half of adults would marry at least once in their lives under 60 years of age.”

Added to this is that “the average number of children per woman has fallen by more than 50% since 1976, when the Transition between Francoism and democracy began, which was legally crystallized with the 1978 Constitution.”

This implies that the fertility rate in Spain does not reach the replacement level, such that “between 1979 and 2022, its average value was 1.40, which implies that each new generation of Spaniards is 1/3 less numerous.” than the previous one.”

“For more than ten years, in Spain the number of births has been lower than the number of deaths” and society is aging rapidly.

Contraceptive policies against the family

The study by the Center for Studies, Training and Social Analysis points out, on the other hand, that “the State makes it easier for families not to expand, or even to not form them” through contraceptive policies and the promotion of abortion.

Thus, despite the fact that article 15 of the Spanish Constitution establishes that “everyone has the right to life”, it is highlighted that “after the various abortion laws – increasingly pro-abortion – and rulings of the Constitutional Court on the matter, that ‘everyone’ has excluded the future Spaniards in gestation, who would have expanded Spanish families, that good that the Constitution claims to protect.”

Consequently, “2.7 million unborn babies have been deprived of life” between 1986 and 2023, and “a large part of these abortions have been paid for with public funds, coming from the taxpayer’s pocket.”

The study also points out some deficiencies in the educational and economic field.

In this sense, it is reported that “the right of parents to not receive moral training that is at odds with their own convictions has been violated and is being violated” and that families are given great lack of economic protection.”