Navarre may get first ever abortion clinic
Conservative region has always encouraged women to travel to neighboring Basque Country or elsewhere to terminate pregnancies
Navarre, the only Spanish region with no public or private abortion centers, could end this anomaly by next fall. A firm called Cannaregio SL is seeking the necessary licenses to set up a private abortion clinic in Ansoáin, four kilometers from Pamplona. Navarre's health commissioner, María Kutz, said her department has three months to analyze the petition and that, if all requisites are met, "it will no doubt be authorized."
"It's not that the government never authorized [abortion centers], it's that nobody had submitted the necessary paperwork until now," added Kutz to justify the fact that women in Navarre need to go to other regions, such as the neighboring Basque Country, to have an abortion, which, according to the 2010 law is available on demand until week 14 and allowed with some restrictions until week 22.
The Socialist government's abortion reform also stated that public health authorities had the obligation to provide the service. Up to now a vast majority of abortions in Spain have been carried out in private clinics.
