Abortion is synonymous with controversy all across the globe. Well, perhaps everywhere except in post-human France and in the social paradise called Scandinavia, but in Spain the debate has boiled up in recent weeks and brought out more than one episode of extreme behavior, suspicious dealings and even the downright oddball.

Before getting to the good stuff, it is worth setting the scene. The Spanish government has proposed to alter the standing abortion law to allow women to freely choose to abort in the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy, a time period that can be extended up to 22 weeks in the case of fetal deformity or risk to the mother’s health.