Following the trend of other European authorities, such as the United Kingdom parliament or some German cities, the Spanish region of Catalonia has attempted to restrict the freedoms of expression, worship, and assembly for participants of the 40 Days for Life campaign in Barcelona.

Last February, the regional security official sent a resolution to the coordinator of the 40 Days for Life campaign in Barcelona, which limited the fundamental rights of the campaigners (assembly, worship, freedom of expression) by ordering them to carry out their campaign at a sufficient distance so as not to be seen or heard from the entrance to the abortion clinic. This limitation means restricting not only the free expression and worship of the campaigners but also the possibility for women attending the clinics to access the help and support of the campaigners in that space.

These restrictions on fundamental rights seek to censor the public message of 40 Days for Life in the environment where it is most beneficial and appropriate.

The resolution does not provide any objective data on the reason for censoring the information and spiritual support offered by the volunteers. It only assumes that there might be a detriment to privacy or harassment, and calls the mere presence and prayer a form of harassment.

The director general cites Law 4/2022, which is markedly ideological and generally discusses the "harassment" that women face outside abortion clinics, without specifying concrete cases or the relationship of those statements to the 40 Days for Life campaign. It also includes a series of recommendations from the World Health Organization, a promoter of abortion at the global level, about safety zones around these centers, which are not binding for Spanish law.

In the resolution, there is a paragraph from the abortion industry association in Spain (ACAI, Association of Clinics for Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy), which was condemned for lying on its website about the risks of abortion, talking about situations not related to the 40 Days for Life campaign.

ACAI, being a private operator, receives from the Catalan public administration a tailor-made shielding in the information provided to women with crisis pregnancies, despite the blatant conflict of interest of these businesses, since they profit from abortions and the obvious danger of manipulating women who come to abort. The abortion clinic business is inversely proportional to impartiality in presenting abortion as a "solution." The mentioned law, pro-abortion in its approaches, promotes abortion not as an option but as a solution and demonizes any pro-life view (or makes it invisible). But this seems not to be enough.

The resolution considers a "threat" and "controlling" the offer of help and information that, along with prayer, 40 Days for Life performs in front of the abortion clinics, in a legal and respectful manner. Its author deems it correct to deny that information and support to women, despite a large number of them having publicly thanked the volunteers for their help. The lives of the babies saved thanks to the campaigns do not deserve consideration by the Catalan authority.

The foundation of a democracy is freedom of expression and its capacity to influence public opinion. The opposite (and what the Catalan security official apparently proposes) is an authoritarian state that directs and controls the expression of ideas, appointing itself as judge and party of what information or influence is lawful. And this is done, among other measures, by imposing places and conditions on the exercise of that freedom.

The illegality and disproportion of such administrative practices have already been pointed out in the courts. In Germany, the Leipzig court declared exclusion zones in Pforzheim unconstitutional after several years of legal proceedings.