The Spanish government announced in September that it was abandoning legislative changes that would have instituted one of the toughest abortion laws in Europe. This was followed by a statement from Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, who spearheaded the proposed legislation, that he was resigning his post and leaving politics, the Spanish newspaper El País reported. The new law would have left abortion legal only in documented cases of rape or where there was a threat to the woman’s physical or mental health. It would have made the procedure a crime for the first time since 1985.

Archbishop Ricardo Blázquez, president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, said that the bishops were “disconcerted” by the news, according to El País. The government’s announcement of the bill in December 2013 was followed by multiple protests in Spain and abroad. Polls conducted in November 2014 by El País revealed that 86 percent of respondents supported a woman’s right to choose and 75 percent felt that there was no public demand for the change in policy.