WHAT HAS SPARKLED SOME CONTROVERSY on Spain's draft bill expanding abortion rights is something I'm not seeing mentioned in the English-language reports: that is lowers the age to 16, meaning that underage girls of 16 and 17 can get an abortion without parental consent, or even without parental notification. So, if law passes as is, a 16-year-old Spanish girl will need a permission from their parents for getting a piercing, cosmethic surgery, even live-an-death medical procedures like emergency appendectomy; of course she can't drive, vote in an election, drink, or smoke. But she can have an abortion. This is not only troubling for conservatives: it's an inconsistency that worries many Socialists too.