Spain: Offensive pro-life

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:

In Nicaragua, women don’t have their say

On October 27th, 2006, a new law was passed in Nicaragua. This law bans voluntary termination of pregnancy (V.T.O.P) in ANY circumstances, and that even if the woman gets pregnant after having been raped. Before the reinforcement of the legislation, the clinical operation was authorised for medical reasons or when the pregnancy was harmful for the woman’s life.   

 

Following an intense pressure from the Church as well as from the pro-life movement,  a total interdiction is from that time in force in the country. The ban has also received support from the President and almost all the political parties in Nicaragua.

The consequences of such a law are easy to guess: millions of women might die in labour, innumerable teenagers might deliver babies whom they will not be able to take care, and more and more women might have to resort to illegal pregnancy termination.

We should not neglect that in Nicaragua, one out of three girls is victim of sexual abuse during her lifetime (Source: Oxfam).

This law is clearly an infringement to women and children’s rights.

 

Source: http://www.uni.edu/palczews/alta01.htm

Here is a documentary from the Channel 4 programme “Unreported World” on the issue (in 3 parts):

Global Review of Abortion Policies

Around the world, the number of interruptions of pregnancy is estimated to 42 millions per year, which is equivalent to an average rate of 29 per 1000 women aged from 15 to 44 years. About 20 millions of these interventions are done illegally in countries where abortion is either totally forbidden or subject to very constraining laws.

Women are in this kind of situation often confronted to lamentable conditions which can lead to grave consequences for their health. About 70 000 women die every year of complications of botched clandestine abortions.

According to World Health Organization (WHO):

• 19 million women experience an unsafe abortion worldwide each year; 18.5 million of these occur in developing countries: Africa (4.2 million), Asia (10.5 million), Latin America & the Caribbean (3.8 million)

• 59 % of all unsafe abortions in Africa are among young women aged 15-24 years

• 68 000 women die from complications of unsafe abortion each year – all in developing countries: Africa (30 000), Asia (34 000), Latin America & the Caribbean (4000)

 

Abortion Laws Around the World – Source: Wikipedia

For more details about abortion policies around the world, have a look at the United Nations’ Global Review.