Reason 38: Only with the independence we will be able to decide by ourselves a proper abortion law

Late 1936, the Government of Catalonia created the first abortion law in the Iberian peninsula and one of the first in the world. 

With the abolition of the Republic, due to the coup d'etat of General Franco and the fascist victory at the Spanish Civil War, the Catalan law was abolished. 

It was not until 1985, with Act 9/1985 , abortion was allowed in Spain, but only in three cases: serious physical or mental health problem of the mother, rape or malformations of the fetus. 

In 2010 they created the new Act 2 /2010, which expanded the possibilities for abortion.

Now, in 2013, the Spanish government wants to create a new law that will restrict abortion even more than it was in 1985.

Catalonia was one of the most advanced countries in the world in this regard. Spain forced us, against our wish to remain in the nineteenth century for most of the twentieth century.  

This is another example that it is too difficult to improve too many things as long as we stay under Spanish rule. We Catalans cannot decide almost anything. There is clearly a cultural difference between Catalan and Castilian mentality. This difference makes us want to decide by ourselves how we want to organise ourselves, and Spain will not allow it. They do this with our education system, with our cultural activities, and also by revoking any law they don't like, such as the Catalan prohibition of bull fights. 

We Catalans want to decide by ourselves instead of being subordinated to the mentality of the neighbour country (Spain), that do not (want to) understand us and think in a different way than us. This difference has nothing to do with being better or worse. We are just different. 

This difference is reflected in the difference between the Catalan and the Spanish political spectrum. 

Therefore, my conclusion remains : we need a state of our own in order to normalise what we already did in 1936. 

More information (Catalan):

Més informació: 

http://www.academia.edu/3214856/Lavortament_legal_una_historia_sense_final

http://www.elperiodico.cat/ca/noticias/politica/oriol-junqueras-leleccio-sera-entre-pais-nou-lespanya-dels-2965392 

(image source: http://cortobert.cat/2013-05-31-no-a-retallades-en-drets-de-les-dones-a-lavortament/)

Reason 33: Only way to have and ensure (a real) self-government

When democracy was reinstalled after the dictatorship, Spain did not want Catalonia and Basque Country to have a ‘special treatment’. In order to give them a kind of self-government, they created the so called ‘State of the autonomies’, which consisted of a division of Spain into autonomic (reed regional) ‘governements’. Catalans and Basques thought that was a good idea and believed this would offer them enough competences in order to develop essential aspects of the Catalan and Basque nations. The fact the all the other regions got a self-government they never asked and they didn’t feel they ‘needed’ was irrelevant.
The Catalan government got several competences, such as Civil law, education or health care (1). During the last decades Catalonia has made several laws and applied most of them. But the Spanish government never abolished the Spanish ministries on these matters, even though they did not have these competences any longer. After more than 30 years of making laws Catalans can say today that living in Catalonia differs in many ways from living in other parts of Spain. A recent example is that bull fights are in Catalonia forbidden.
But the reality is that during this time Catalans have tried to play as if Catalonia was a sovereign country or a nation, while they had the competences any other Spanish region also had. We see our country, Catalonia as a nation, the Spaniards see it as a region. So, we Catalans played our ‘role’, in some cases through law making, and when law was not possible (blocked by Spain) we seeked for surrogate solutions (such as the stickers for car number plates with ‘CAT’).
But this Catalan dream seems to be coming to an end. The reality is that none of the competences has ever been transferred completely, and whenever a Catalan law does not like the Spaniards they annihilate it. Some of us woke up when the Spaniards reduced the new Organic law of Catalonia ‘Estatut’. And we can see how the Spanish ministries are more and more unsatisfied with the ‘State of autonomies’.
Even though the Spanish prime minister has said not to want to dismantle the ‘State of autonomies’, the idea is present within the Popular Party (PP) and within the Spanish population. This has come out lately in the news(2). The Spanish dream consists of Spanish supremacy all over the Spanish territory. And the ‘State of autonomies’ is a thorn in the eye of many of them. Many Spaniards (I think most) see as a logic, as proper, as a fundamental right to have equal Spanish education for everyone in Spain. This ensures their language’s supremacy. It also unifies content at school for everyone within Spanish borders (Spanish geography, history, literature, et cetera). Many Catalans can still remember a world like that (1939-1978).
This week Esperanza Aguirre (PP) declared her dissatisfaction with the ‘State of autonomies’. She spoke of taking back competences such as Civil Law, Education and health care.

A positive vote of PP and PSOE for such an idea could mean the end of the ‘State of autonomies’. They have got the majority and have shown to be capable of taking any step in order to ensure the continuity of a united Spain and the recovery of Spanish supremacy.
Today we can see the Catalan government does not seem to have any real competence, and even its existence is unsure as long as we remain under Spanish command.
Only becoming a sovereign state in Europe can ensure we will have real competences and will be able to really decide for ourselves without anyone else prohibiting us to be how we want to be.
As for now, the danger is getting bigger. I just hope enough Catalans wake up before it’s too late.

(1) http://www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_4.htm
(2) http://www.directe.cat/noticia/193759/el-pp-engega-motors-per-liquidar-lestat-de-les-autonomies
(image ols Spanish school book: http://www.rafaelcastillejo.com/escuela-2.htm)