In 2004 Spain passed Law 1/2004, establishing the measures aiming to eradicate gender-based violence, which is defined as a sort of violence directed to women for the very fact of being women and for being considered, by their aggressors, as lacking the minimum rights to liberty, respect and decision-making capacity.^[15] However, this law only protects women from violence committed by their partners or former partners. It does not include protection against gender-based violence by other perpetrators.^[16]

A national strategy was adopted by the government for the elimination of violence against women for 2013-2016.^[17] The objectives of the strategy include improving the institutional response provided by the public authorities, by providing personalised schemes; providing assistance to minors and women that are particularly vulnerable to violence; and raising the visibility of and assisting in other forms of violence against women.

 Several different bodies of laws address domestic violence in Spain. The Penal Code^[18]was modified by the 2003 Organic Law No. 11 so that actions formerly considered as simple misdemeanours, such as physically aggressing someone or threatening them with a weapon^[19],  would become crimes punishable by imprisonment when related to domestic violence.^[20] Later that year law No.27 was passed determining the framework for issuing protection orders for victims of domestic violence. In 2004 the Law No.1 Medidas de Protección Integral contra la Violencia de Género (‘Means for the Integral Protection Against Gender Violence’) was created. This law sought to address the recommendations of the international organizations and accords signed by Spain, such as CEDAW, and to establish integral protection measures aimed at preventing, sanction, eradicate gender and domestic violence.^[21]Gender violence is aggravated if the perpetrator is a partner or ex-partner of the victim.^[22]

This law includes actions for awareness-raising, prevention and detection in areas as diverse as education, health, advertising and media dissemination.^[23] Moreover, this law established the creation of Juzgados de Violencia sobre la Mujer (‘Courts for Violence against Women’).^[24]

In order to address the issue of domestic violence, the Primer Plan de Acción contra la Violencia Doméstica (‘First Action Plan against Domestic Violence’) was executed from 1998 to 2000. It included information sessions for victims of domestic violence, trainings for the different Police departments and the Civil Guard, and the creation of specialized care centres for victims and information centres within the Courts and the Prosecutors’ offices.^[25]The Second Action Plan against Domestic Violence took place from 2000 to 2004, including sensitization trainings form education, health, safety and judicial professionals; the creation of the Guía Práctica (‘Practical Guide’) for guiding domestic violence victims on the existent legal resources; the creation of Puntos de encuentro, specialized centres for all family members in the situation of domestic violence; the establishment of a domestic violence hotline within the National Guard.^[26]The National Police’s Servicio de Atención a la Mujer (SAM) (‘Service to Women’) is a specialized unit for treating gender violence cases.^[27]Moreover, the Web de recursos de apoyo y prevención ante casos de violencia de género (WRAP) (‘Online portal for means of support and prevention of gender violence’) was put in place in order to help victims of domestic violence find support systems within their region.^[28]

 The Delegación del Gobierno para la violencia de género is the institutional structure that deals with the evaluation of the ‘Ley integral’^[29] and provides up to date data. Official data on justice are disseminated through a body in the Consejo General del Poder Judicial, called Observatorio contra la violencia de doméstica y de género^[30], in the form of yearly or trimestral reports.^[31]According to 2012 data, there were 52 victims of gender-based violence, only 10 of them had reported the offence. 71% percent of the victims were cohabitating with the aggressor and for 73% the aggressor was their partner.^[32] 

 According to Amnesty International, 503 women have been murdered by their partners from 2005 to 2012. The number of reported domestic violence cases initially rose after the Integral Protection Against Gender Violence Law was passed in 2004, but the trend is decreasing since 2008. Amnesty International estimates that 73% of all domestic violence cases go unreported. Moreover, around 50% of cases were filed without the pursuit of a judicial process and 37% of protection order requests were rejected. Amnesty also reports that members of the judiciary lack proper training for dealing with domestic violence cases.^[33] A study published by the Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo (‘Ministry of Health and Consumers’) established that having rigid conceptions of gender roles is one of the main risk factors for a man to use violence. ^[34]

 The Spanish Penal Code makes the distinction for rape between sexual aggression (agresión)^[35] and sexual abuse (abuso)^[36]. Article 178 stipulates that anyone who infringes upon the sexual freedom of another person through violence or intimidation commits the crime of sexual aggression, with imprisonment from one to five years. Article 179 specifies that the introduction of a body part or an object through the body part of the victim is punishable by 12 years of prison. Aggravating circumstances for the crime are enumerated under article 180: if there is more than one aggressor, when the victim is vulnerable (minor, etc), when the victim is a subordinate to the perpetrator, when weapons are used, and if it is a recurring event.  Article 181.1 establishes that infringing upon someone’s sexual freedom without their consent, even when violence or intimidation are not used, is considered as sexual abuse, punishable by imprisonment from 12 to 24 months.

 The definition of rape does not specifically include marital rape. However, in 1992 the Supreme Court ruled that husbands must have the consent of their wife in order to engage in a sexual act.^[37] Article 3 of the law 1/2004 protects against sexual assault from current or former partners.^[38]

The Programa Daphne was created in 2000 at the European level, among other goals, for enhancing protection of underage rape victims in collaboration with diverse NGOs.^[39] Rape victims are advised to contact the National Police’s Servicio de Atención a la Mujer (SAM) (‘Service to Women’).^[40]NGOs, such as Centro de Asistencia a Víctimas de Agresiones Sexuales (‘Center for Assistance to Victims of Sexual Assault’) exist to aid victims with legal and psychological support.^[41]

 The Penal Code and a 2007 Law criminalizes sexual harassment,^[42]which is punished by a fine or incarceration from three to five months. Sexual harassment is defined in the Penal Code as the solicitation of sexual favours in the workplace, in educational settings or during the delivery of services. The crime is aggravated if the perpetrator is a superior to the victim and if the victim is a minor or a person with a disease. Law No. 3 defines, in its article 7, sexual harassment as verbal and non-verbal behaviour of sexual nature that creates a hostile, offensive or degrading environment for the victim.^[43]This law requires private and public entities to acknowledge and address cases of sexual harassment.^[44]

 According to data by the Secretaría Confederal de la Mujer (‘Confederal Secretary for Women’), 18% of Spanish women have been subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace. Examples of harassment include unwanted invasion of personal space, constant pressure to establish a non-professional relationship, solicitation of sexual favours in exchange of professional advancement, and physical aggression by their superior.^[45]  The Secretaría Confederal de la Mujer is a department of one of the main syndicates in Spain named ‘Comisiones Obreras’ (CC.OO).^[46] The main syndicates in Spain have departments that deal with issues of equality relating to discrimination in the workplace. They also formulate and disseminate information about the Secretaría Confederal de Igualdad del Sindicato Unión General de trabajadores UGT.^[47]

Initially decriminalized for certain situations in 1985 through the Organic Law No. 9, abortion restrictions were newly lowered with the Organic Law No. 2 of 2010.^[48] The 2010 law sought to reach European standards^[49]and established women’s right to access to the voluntary interruption of a pregnancy (up to 14 weeks), as well as to other reproductive services, such as contraception.^[50] This law gave women the freedom to decide for an abortion up to the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy. However there are still measures that were not implemented in practice, such as training in sexual and reproductive health in the education system.

 The 2010 law was reviewed by the Parliament in 2014 with a proposed amendment to return to the standards set by the 1985 law, that is, that women may only voluntarily interrupt a pregnancy in certain situations. This proposition did not attract the majority of the votes in the Spanish parliament. The proposed 2013 law, Ley de Protección de la Vida del Concebido y derechos de la mujer embarazada (‘Law for the Protection of the Life of the Conceived and Rights of Pregnant Women’) would only allow abortion when a woman has been raped (has reported the abuse and proceeds to abort before the 12^th week) or when her life is in danger (access to an abortion before the 22^nd week.) Further restrictions include the obligation to present two separate medical reports on the danger that the pregnancy supposes for the woman. Also, medical centres that provide abortion services are banned from publicizing that they do.^[51]