Dec. 22, 2013 10:01 a.m. ET
MADRID—Spain's government is moving to curb abortion rights, keeping a 2-year-old election promise by a ruling party that has lost popularity during the country's recession and now seeks to shore up support among social conservatives.
A bill approved by the cabinet on Friday would rescind much of a 2010 law that made abortion widely legal before the 14th week of pregnancy. The reversal would buck a European trend toward easier access to abortion by allowing the practice only in cases of rape or a serious health risk to the mother, including psychological risk, or fetus.
Tens of thousands of people mobilized by women's rights groups and the main opposition parties took to the streets in 21 cities on Saturday to denounce the bill, many waving placards reading, "Abortion is not a crime."
The bill and the protests signal a return of social issues to the political agenda, which has recently been dominated by the economy, as Spain moves closer to elections.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government has made other recent nods to his Popular Party's conservative base. It is preparing a bill that would empower private security guards to detain criminal suspects, and it is also considering a measure that would reimpose life prison sentences for the first time in decades.
The governing center-right party is losing ground as it braces for local and European Parliament elections next May, which are expected to serve as a bellwether ahead of general elections in late 2015. Mr. Rajoy came to power in a landslide two years ago, but his party now holds only a slim lead in voter surveys over the Socialist Party, the only other party to have ruled Spain over the past three decades.
Mr. Rajoy has lost overall popular support while struggling to pull the economy out of recession and fend off allegations of illegal payments to him and other leaders of his party.
In addition, many conservatives have been alienated by Mr. Rajoy's tax increases and the release of Basque separatist prisoners under a European human-rights law. Conservative commentators say that his rejection of a pro-independence movement in Catalonia hasn't been forceful enough and that he has missed opportunities afforded by the recession to scale back Spain's extensive social welfare benefits.
As Mr. Rajoy focused almost exclusively on the economy, the politically powerful Roman Catholic Church hierarchy had openly criticized his government for delaying on its promise to curb abortions.
Jordi Rodríguez-Virgili, a professor of political and corporate communications at the University of Navarre in northern Spain, said the new restrictions could help Mr. Rajoy recoup support.
"This is a way to reconnect with the party base," he said. "It's also a way to change the political discussion and put the focus back on the things they said they would do and they haven't yet done."
The abortion bill would restore many restrictions that accompanied Spain's legalization of abortion in 1985 but were mostly abolished in the 2010 law. Women seeking abortions would need approval from two doctors who aren't performing the procedure, and girls under 18 would need parental consent as well. The bill would reduce the number of prenatal defects that a woman and her doctor could cite to legally justify an abortion.
Women getting illegal abortions wouldn't, however, be subject to criminal prosecution, as they were before 2010.
Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón said Friday the new abortion bill seeks to "recover a balance" between the rights of the unborn and the right of women to choose. This balance, he added, was lost three years ago when a Socialist-led parliament enacted the current law.
"It's unacceptable that abortion depends only on the will of the woman, with no other factor taken into account," Mr. Ruiz-Gallardón said.
The bill will be reviewed by parliament, now controlled by Mr. Rajoy's party, and is expected to become law early next year.
Abortion is widely legal in the early stages of pregnancy in most of Europe. It is outlawed only in Malta and Andorra. Ireland legalized abortion this year under limited circumstances. Restrictions also apply in the U.K., Poland, Finland, Cyprus and Luxembourg.
According to the World Health Organization, abortion rates in Spain are close to the European Union average. Their numbers have risen from nearly 60,000 in 1999 to a high of 121,000 in 2011, the most recent year for which Spanish government estimates are available.
Changes in social mores and a large increase in the immigrant population account for at least part of the increase. Abortion critics say the 2010 law is also contributing, as it made it easier for women to abort, particularly in the early stages of pregnancy.
Abortion-rights activists say the proposed restrictions won't drive abortion rates lower. "All they will do is oblige women with fewer resources to terminate their pregnancies in unsafe conditions, which can put their lives in danger," said Yolanda Rodriguez, a physician active in Spain's abortion-rights lobby.
Antiabortion groups welcomed the bill as a step toward their goal of an outright ban. The 2010 liberalization had provoked large street demonstrations, mobilized in part by the Roman Catholic Church. Most Spaniards are Catholic but sharply divided on abortion: A survey by the Metroscopia polling firm last April showed 46% favored keeping the 2010 law while 41% wanted a more restrictive one.
Write to David Román at David.Roman@wsj.com
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