The Spanish government is poised to abandon its plans to drastically limit access to abortion in the country, according to the newspaper El Mundo.

The conservative People's party introduced legislation in December that would make abortion illegal except in the case of rape or when there is a risk to the physical and mental health of the mother. The legislation sought to enact some of the toughest abortion laws in Europe, requiring women wanting an abortion to have two doctors verify that these conditions had been met.

The justice minister, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, said the changes would be approved before the end of September. But sources from the party told El Mundo on Saturday that the law would never make it to parliament. One told the Spanish daily: "There is no consensus on the project."

Earlier this year, several regional leaders within the party spoke out against the changes. The changes were rejected by dozens of municipalities, including those governed by the People's party.

The proposed changes proved deeply unpopular among Spaniards, with polls showing between 70-80% of the population opposed. Tens of thousands took to the streets to rally against the legislation. "We are here to protest against a government that wants to take us back to the times of Franco," one demonstrator told the Guardian in February, at a Madrid demonstration that attracted 15,000 people. "We are stepping backwards with this law."

But the government vowed to move forward with the reform, insisting that the legislation was an election promise from 2011 that needed to be completed. "You have my word that no screams or insults could provoke me to abandon my commitment to comply with the [party] platform to regulate the rights of women and the unborn," Ruiz-Gallardón said in February. "We are not talking about moral issues or electoral advantages, but instead the defence of fundamental rights."

According to El Mundo, the government's retreat from the legislation was motivated by electoral concerns. With municipal, regional and general elections on the horizon in 2015, sources said it had been an error to introduce a debate that pitted religious hardliners against the majority of Spaniards.

The shortcomings of this strategy were seen during Spain's European elections in May. While the PP narrowly beat the Socialists, the party lost 2.5 million votes compared with the 2009 election. "We made things complicated by forcing voters to talk about a subject that they didn't want to address," sources told El Mundo.

The report comes a week before anti-abortion groups were planning to march in Madrid to protest against the government dragging its heels on passing the legislation. "We're asking the government of Mariano Rajoy to fulfil his promise now," they wrote in their manifesto.

The People's party has not officially confirmed the report, but opposition parties were quick to respond to the news. The Socialist leader, Pedro Sánchez, called it a victory for the many who opposed the changes, while Pablo Iglesias of Podemos tweeted that it was "a victory for all the women of our country and a demonstration of what is possible".