Andorran minister says abortion will be decriminalized before next election
The country's co-heads of state are a Catholic bishop and the French president.
An Andorran minister said Monday that the decriminalization of abortion in the country will be approved before parliamentary elections are held next year, amid negotiations with the Catholic Church in the principality.
The Andorran minister of institutional relations, Ladislau Baró, said in a Jun. 1 interview that the proposal to decriminalize abortion in the country is finished but thorny negotiations with the Holy See might delay the bill.
Andorra has an unusual political arrangement, with two co-princes serving as heads of state: the president of France and the Bishop of Urgell. As a result, legalizing any measure contrary to Catholic teaching can involve delicate political and ecclesial tensions, as a change in the law could theoretically involve the bishop.
The Urgell diocese, which dates back to the fifth century, serves around 212,000 Catholics from its base in La Seu d’Urgell, a town in Spanish Catalonia.
But the diocese also covers Andorra, a prosperous microstate with a population of 80,000 people, nestled between France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains.
By law only one of the country’s two co-princes must sign legislation for it to become law, a step usually left to the French president — the other Andorran co-prince — on contentious matters.
In recent years, the Church appeared to signal tacit acceptance of efforts to decriminalize abortion in Andorra, on the condition that the Bishop of Urgell, Josep-Lluís Serrano Pentinat, would be exempted from formally sanctioning the measure as co-prince.
La Vanguardia reported in 2024 that Andorran officials were negotiating with the Vatican on a change to Andorran policy on abortion, and claimed that the Holy See had quietly approved the decriminalization plan that year with Pope Francis’ approval.
The outlet also reported that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin met with Espot in 2023, together with Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Holy See’s foreign minister, to work toward a compromise on the matter.
Parolin visited Andorra in September 2023 amid rumors that Bishop Joan-Enric Vives, then-Bishop of Urgell, might abdicate as co-prince rather than sign an abortion bill into law, although Parolin ruled out the possibility.
The Vatican secretary of state said in a press conference then that the issue of abortion in Andorra was a “very delicate, very complex question that we need to face with a lot of discretion and a lot of wisdom.”
In his first public appearance as Bishop of Urgel on May 31, Serrano said that “there should be dialogue and support for those who suffer… [especially] women in a difficult position” due to abortion.
This was seen by many as a marked change of tone from his predecessor, Joan-Enric Vives, who had threatened to abdicate if abortion was legalized in the country.
Vives had also rejected the possibility of signing any bill that would go against Catholic teaching into law, saying that “when the Andorran people ask for a Catholic bishop to be their Head of State, they know what it implies.”
The bill would amend the country’s criminal code to remove criminal penalties for women who undergo abortions, and remove professional sanctions for doctors or medical personnel who perform them.
The law would not, however, formally permit abortions to take place in the small nation between Spain and France.
However, once the Church’s position became public, an uproar among Catholics in Andorra and Spain led the Andorran government to backtrack on its plans — and the Church to adopt a firmer stance.
Baró said in the interview that the “technical and philosophical part [of the bill] is written and ready.”
However, he mentioned that the approval of the bill hinges upon negotiations with the Holy See, as the government has the goal of decriminalizing abortion while maintaining the country’s institutional stability.
“It’s not like the Holy See decides upon this topic, the decision is conducted by the Consell General,” Baró said, referring to the country’s legislative power, “and the government must evaluate if the text is adjusted to these goals before presenting the bill,” he added.
Baró also said that he felt they were “very close” to finding an acceptable balance.
The debate around abortion was reignited in April, after French president and Andorran co-prince Emmanuel Macron visited the principate and said in a speech that “many Andorrans reclaim” the issue of decriminalization of abortion, and that “a dialogue was set in motion” to move forward with the proposal “within the respect of the institutions, everyone’s conscience, and tradition.”
The president of the Andorran government and one of the main supporters of the legislation, Xavier Espot, said after meeting with Macron that he thought it was necessary to move forward with decriminalizing abortion “with realism, with prudence, and with ambition” but said there wasn’t a specific timetable to decriminalize the practice.
While the Andorran government insists in gaining at least the tacit consent of the Church to pass the decriminalization of abortion, laws on contentious issues passing without the signature of the Bishop of Urgell are hardly unprecedented.
For example, a law legalizing homosexual civil unions was signed exclusively by then-French president Jacques Chirac, as was the 2019 law of assisted reproduction, signed only by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Last year, the government was also preparing a companion bill that would maintain the country’s ban on performing abortions while providing public funding for women who travel to France or Spain to abort, La Veu Lliure reported. However, the bill has not been part of recent discussions on the subject.
—
In an Aug. 28 address to French politicians, Pope Leo XIV said that “Christianity cannot be reduced to a simple private devotion, because it implies a way of living in society imprinted by love for God and for one’s neighbour who, in Christ, is no longer an enemy but a brother.”
“I am well aware that the openly Christian commitment of a public official is not easy,” the pope added, “Neither do I ignore the pressure, the party directives, the “ideological colonizations”, to use an apt expression of Pope Francis, to which politicians are subjected. They must have the courage to say at times, “no, I cannot!”, when the truth is at stake. Here too, only union with Jesus – the crucified Jesus! – will give you this courage to suffer in his name.”
At the end of his September 2025 visit to Belgium, Pope Francis announced he’d open the beatification cause of King Baudoin of Belgium.
In 1990, Baudoin refused to sign a law that would legalize abortion until 12 weeks of pregnancy in Belgium, saying in a message to the country’s PM that he “[feared] that this law will contribute to a palpable diminution of respect for the lives of the weakest among us,” throwing the country into a constitutional crisis.
After significant pushback, Baudouin wrote a message saying: “To those who may be shocked by my decision, I ask them: Is it right that I am the only Belgian citizen to be forced to act against his conscience in such a crucial area? Is the freedom of conscience sacred for everyone except for the king?”
Ultimately, the Belgian government worked out a compromise in which Baudouin declared himself unfit to rule while the government passed the law and then restored him as king a few days later.