Spanish Panel Recommends Loosening Abortion Restrictions

Spain's restrictions on abortion should be eased and the procedure should be allowed up to 14 weeks' gestation without a doctor's approval, according to a government-appointed panel of legal and medical experts that recently examined the issue, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. The panel also recommended that Spain allow abortion up to 22 weeks' gestation if a doctor certifies a serious threat to the pregnant woman or malformation of the fetus, according to Equality Minister Bibiana Aido. He added that abortion would be permitted after 22 weeks' gestation only if a doctor detects a fetal malformation that would be fatal. The current abortion law in Spain dates from 1985 and allows abortion up to 12 weeks' gestation in cases of rape, 22 weeks' gestation in cases of fetal malformation, and at any stage if a doctor determines a woman's physical or mental health would be at risk if the pregnancy continued, the AP/Yahoo! News reports. The panel also recommended lowering the age to receive an abortion without parental consent from 18 years to 16 years, as well as removing abortion from the country's penal code altogether. Under the current law, a woman can be charged with a crime for obtaining an illegal abortion.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero asked the panel for recommendations to help prepare the government to reform the current law. Last month, a parliamentary committee issued similar recommendations to allow abortion early in pregnancy without a doctor's approval. New legislation is expected to be presented to Parliament by the summer and approved by the end of the year.

Supporters of the change argue that the new legislation will allow women to make their own reproductive decisions without the threat of criminal charges. Aido said that women who choose to have an abortion, under the new law, "can do so in complete liberty and legal safety, within certain time limits and in clearly defined circumstances." However, critics of the new law, including the main conservative opposition Popular Party and the Roman Catholic Church, are expected to challenge the changes. According to the AP/Yahoo! News, the Socialist government "has already angered the Catholic Church and political conservatives by putting in place sweeping social reforms," such as same-sex marriage and eased divorced requirements.

According to the AP/Yahoo! News, more than 100,000 abortions were performed in Spain in 2008, representing one of the highest rates in Europe. A "vast majority" of procedures were performed in the first trimester, and more than 90% of women obtaining abortions cited mental distress as the reason for the procedures. Spain began proceedings to change the law in 2007 after about 25 women and doctors were arrested in Madrid during abortion clinic raids and accused of falsifying doctor's certificates to let women have abortions (Giles, AP/Yahoo! News, 3/5).

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