A new law legalizing abortion on demand up to 14 weeks of pregnancy went into effect July 5 in Spain. The law also allows abortion up to 22 weeks for the mother's "health" or if the unborn baby has "serious problems," according to Agence France Presse (AFP).

The law permits girls 16 and older to abort their babies without parental permission. They do have to inform their parents of the abortion, AFP reported, unless there is "a clear risk of family violence, threats, pressure or mistreatment."

Pro-life groups and the Catholic Church have spoken out forcefully against the law. In regions that are governed by the conservative Popular Party, officials have said they will not apply the new regulations, in a move that Spanish newspapers have called a "rebellion," according to AFP.

The Popular Party has filed a legal challenge against the law, AFP reported, and the Constitutional Court is currently deciding whether to suspend it while the case is being heard.

Abortion has been more common in Spain since a 1985 Constitutional Court ruling allowed abortion up to 12 weeks for rape or "mental distress" and up to 22 weeks for fetal malformation, according to the Associated Press. About 115,000 unborn babies were aborted in Spain in 2009, and many are concerned that the new law will increase that number dramatically.

"The drama of abortion has been in Spain for 25 years, it has caused terrible pain to over a million women, more than a million children have not been born," pro-life activist Benigno Blanco told Associated Press Television. "With this new law this drama is going to get worse. What we want to say is 'enough of abortion.'"