Alicia Fraerman
MADRID , Jan 9 2008 (IPS) – Abortion clinics in Spain went on a five-day strike Tuesday to protest arrests of clinic personnel in Barcelona, the capital of the northeastern region of Catalonia.
Peruvian Dr. Carlos Morín, the director of a clinic in that city, was imprisoned on remand in late December, along with two of his colleagues, on charges of performing illegal abortions.
Two other clinics have been closed since early December in Madrid, where abusive inspections are being carried out by the authorities, said Isabel Iserte, deputy head of the Spanish Family Planning Federation (FPFE).
In Spain, abortion is illegal except when a woman has been raped (the termination must be done in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy), in the case of foetal malformations (up to 22 weeks gestation), and when the woman faces grave danger to her life or physical or mental health (there is no time limit in this case).
Santiago Barambio, the head of the Tutor Médica clinic in Catalonia, said the strike is aimed at drawing attention to the situation, and will not affect women seeking abortions, which will only be slightly delayed, while emergency cases will continue to be accepted.
The purpose of the strike, he added, isn t to aggravate women, but basically to support the Madrid clinics, which are being harassed by the health authorities. As he said in statements to the press, it isn t normal for a clinic to undergo nine inspections in less than a year.
Related IPS Articles
At present almost all abortions are carried out in private clinics, as the public health system covers only 2.5 percent of the total. This weakness in state healthcare is heavily influenced by the Catholic Church s anti-abortion campaign, according to family support organisations.
Health Ministry statistics indicate that the number of abortions in the country has doubled in the last decade.
Every year, one woman out of 100 in the age range of 15 to 44 has an abortion. Of these, 40 percent are under 25 and 14 percent are under 19 years old.
The rise in the number of abortions performed in Spain should be countered with education for children and young people, and not with crackdowns, the head of the Women s Forum in Madrid s city government, Lourdes Hernández, told IPS.
Hernández said that children of both sexes should be educated from the time they start talking to their parents, at primary school and in all educational institutions.
She said that the media usually do no more than report statistics and bad news, without explaining why women have abortions and how these may be prevented.
Guillermo González, head of the FPFE, agreed with Hernández about the need for sex education, which is practically non-existent.
Sex education should be part of the official school curriculum, although not necessarily as a separate subject, he told IPS.
An issue which should be speedily addressed, he said, is the sale of contraceptives, which should be available over-the counter, as it is unacceptable that only condoms can be purchased without a prescription.
The first item to be deregulated should be the morning-after pill (emergency contraception), which has proven to have very few side-effects, and is an important aid for women to make their own decision about whether or not to become pregnant, as is their prerogative, he said.
Spain s legislation on abortion is the most restrictive in Europe, while Dutch laws are the most liberal. Women in the Netherlands can have an abortion on demand at any time up to 24 weeks gestation.
Paradoxically, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany are the countries with the lowest abortion rate in Europe, at seven per 1,000 pregnancies.
Medical sources in Spain point out that the time limit of 22 weeks for malformed foetuses means that if malformations incompatible with survival are discovered after that gestational age, an abortion cannot be performed and the woman must give birth to a baby who is doomed to die.
The Association of Accredited Abortion Clinics (ACAI), which represents about 50 private clinics, is calling for a law to allow women to make a free choice about whether or not to remain pregnant, with no interference from the state, within the first 12 weeks of gestation. Only from the 13th week would conditions and limitations be set for the termination of pregnancy.
In response to anti-abortion declarations and physical attacks on abortion clinics by campaigners, González said that the sectors that are against sex education, contraceptives and the morning-after pill are the same ones that later clutch their heads because abortions are rising.
What they really want is for no one to have sex, but that isn t going to happen, so the only solution is to provide information and birth control, he said.
Family planning organisations calling for the decriminalisation of abortion, and the Catholic Church and its followers demanding the opposite, will have to wait until the new parliament convenes after the Mar. 9 elections, as the previous parliament s sessions have ended.
Both points of view will loom large during the election campaign, as abortion is a flashpoint issue.
