The debate on abortion was at the heart of Spain’s general election campaign last March.
In December 2007 already, Prime Minister José Luis Rodrigues Zapatero had reconsidered his initial decision not to “meddle with such a polemic issue” after several private hospitals in Barcelona and Madrid were accused of performing “illegal pregnancy termination”.
Since 1985, women are allowed to have recourse to abortion only in case of rape (before the twelfth week of pregnancy), malformation of the fetus or risk for the physical or psychic health of the mother. In the last case however, which is invoked by 90% of the 100 000 candidates for voluntary termination of pregnancy (V.T.O.P) yearly, the law does not specify any time limit.
This restrictive law which still considers abortion as a crime -even if the practice currently experiences a boom in Spain with 105 000 avortements in 2007, twice as much as in 1997- obviously explains the recent affair in the country, where 29 women were brought before a court for “illegal abortion”.
The scandal first blew up on November 2007 with the arrest of Carlos Morin, a doctor from Barcelona accused of interrupting late pregnancies -up to seven months- for a fee of 600 euros. Since the current law does not impose any time limit when the physical or psychic health of the mother is considered at risk, Morin may have falsified psychiatric reports. As a result of such abuses, every private hospitals -which are responsible for 98% of VTOP in the country- are now targeted by the authorities.
Worried about these attacks to women’s rights, feminists are calling for a reform: up to 12 weeks, a woman should not be obliged to justifiy her choice.
Have a look at France 24’s report to understand what Spanish women experience in their daily lives when it comes to abortion:
Since January 18, 2008 in the French underground and in some train stations, about 600 posters entitled “ Sexuality, contraception, abortion, a right, my choice, our freedom” have been placarded to draw the public’s attention on the difficulties still faced by many women who want to abort in the capital and its suburbs.
The slogan is part of a new campaign launched by the Family Planning in coordination with the region of Ile-de-France (Paris area).
According to the campaigners, Ile-de-France (which is the most populated region of France) is also a “region where the obstacles are becoming more and more numerous when it comes to assert ones rights in terms of abortion. A region where access to abortion remains an hassle”.
The Family Planning claims that the lack of financial and moral care, the important delays or the reduction of the number of medical centres dedicated to abortion often plunge women in a situation of time trial since abortion cannot be performed beyond 12 weeks of pregnancy according to the French law.
For all these reasons, it is said that 3 000 to 5 000 women are forced every year in France to terminate their pregnancy abroad. Women who live in Ile-de-France, Provence-Alpes-Cotes d’Azur and Outre-Mer regions are said to be the most exposed to difficulties during the tiring process of abortion (Source French Movement for Family Planning).
More than a matter of law, the question of intolerance seems to be the main ongoing obstacle to abortion in France, 33 years after its legalisation, pushed forward by the famous French lawyer and politician Simone Veil in 1975.
For the pro-life movement, the campaign is obviously an “advertising in favour of abortion”. People opposed to interruption of pregnancy are still numerous in France, and that despite some recent declarations from the government defending the right of women to abort. On Saturday 19, 2008, an handful of anti-abortion militants organised a “march for life”.
