This paper explains how and why the regulation of morality issues in Spain has changed over the last decades. First, we argue that changes in the regulation of issues like Abortion, Assisted Reproduction Techniques, Stem-Cell Research, euthanasia and same sex marriage are linked to each other, generating a process of mutual reinforcement towards policy change. Second this process towards a more permissive and liberal regulation of moral issues is characterized by an increasing secularization of the political debate, and this is especially the case for the Catholic Church, which in alliance with other policy actors, reframe moral issues invoking non-theological arguments in search for potential allies among non-religious people. Third, policy change takes place in a highly politicized environment, in which political parties have played a predominant role. There is a high degree of confrontation between parties of the left, which always give support to more permissive regulation, and the conservative party, that gives support to the position of the Catholic Church adopting a quite reactive position. To give support to these arguments we have used the databases created by the Spanish policy agendas project (www.ub.edu/spanishpolicyagendas) following the methodology of the comparative agendas project, and we have coded the documents of the Conferencia Episcopal Española (Catholic Church in Spain) related to these moral issues, by using keyword search. In doing that, we are aimed to make a contribution to the analysis of comparative public policy, and also to give some evidence about the importance of religion in the process of issue framing in Spain.
