The Spanish government has approved a plan to fully legalise abortion, allowing terminations on demand in the early stages of pregnancy.

The new proposal, which would women to seek a termination within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy without having to give a reason, has set the Socialist government on a collision course with Spain's Catholic Church.

The bill, which needs ratifying by parliament, eases strict abortion laws that have been in place since 1985 and is the latest in a series of social reforms by the Spanish prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero.