IJFAB Blog

This pen-and-ink image shows the trace of a pendulum swinging back and forth, the middle blurry and only the extremes of the swing clear. Image Credit: “Pendulum Swing”, by DK Osorio

In 1985, Spain passed laws restricting a woman’s right to abortion, the so-called “Organic Law” governing reproductive health and abortion. Under this law, abortion was legal in only three cases: serious risk to physical or mental health of the pregnant woman, in which case abortion was supposed to be therapeutic; rape; and the presence of malformations or defects in the fetus. No other reasons were allowed for legal abortions taking place in Spain. Those seeking abortions needed the wherewithal to leave the country. Both pregnant women who procured abortions, and medical personnel who performed them, could be imprisoned for doing so (this was apparently rare, but possible).

In 2010, after decades without a right to seek abortion for any reason other than health, rape, or fetal deformity, a revision to the Organic Law went into effect and Spanish women were finally given a right to so-called “abortion on demand.” Debate over the passage of the law heavily involved the notion that access to safe abortion was a matter of reproductive health. As of March 3, 2010, up to 14 weeks gestation, Spanish women can now choose to terminate the pregnancy for any reason. Within that time period, abortion is wholly decriminalized (for context, most U.S. states allow abortion for any reason up to anywhere from 20-24 weeks; some have proposed 14 week cutoffs but those are still in development because of the 1973 court case Roe v. Wade, which made it a matter of federal case law that states could not make abortion wholesale illegal until after the point of “viability”). Abortion can occur up to 22 weeks if there is a serious risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman or fetus, and thereafter only if fetal anomalies incompatible with life, or some other serious and incurable fetal disease, are detected. According to Spain’s own Ministry of Health, these abortions up to 14 weeks gestation constitute over 90 percent of all abortions carried out in Spain in 2012, the remainder of which involved medical grounds for termination later in pregnancy. The rights of women in Spain to access abortion without fear of prosecution were greatly expanded (though it should be noted that rates of abortion did not increase substantially for 2011, and went down in 2012; this is variously attributed to causes including women claiming health risks for any unwanted pregnancy prior to 2010, and to increased availability of the morning after pill at the same time the new law took effect).

The ire of Spain’s conservative religious and political forces was roused.   Indeed, a large rally of several tens of thousands of people protested against the 2010 law in Madrid, prior to its passage. Other protests against the expansion of abortion access continue to take place, such as this one in Barcelona in 2012. Continue reading →