No abortion loophole

The first data obtained from the regional governments show that the implementation of the new abortion law, which came into effect on July 5, 2010, has not become the "sieve" full of loopholes predicted by anti-abortion groups. A year ago now, Spanish legislation enshrined the woman's right to voluntary termination of pregnancy during the first 14 weeks of gestation without having to adduce any reason other than her own wish to do so. In these 12 months, the new law has not generated the avalanche of abortions predicted by the Popular Party (PP), the rightwing media and the Episcopal Conference. Just the contrary.

Statistics show that in Spain the downward trend in the number of abortions, beginning in 2009 for the first time since data have been collected, continued during 2010. It seems obvious that this downturn is attributable not to the new law, but rather to merely demographic reasons. The economic crisis began to slow immigration in 2009, with obvious repercussions on a clinical practice in which immigrant women accounted for 40 percent of abortions in Spain.

Apart from demographic causes, the new law's battery of measures to improve sexual education has had the beneficial effect of reducing the number of undesired pregnancies, and thus, of women who opt for abortion. This cannot be a substitute for contraceptive methods, which are increasingly accessible, particularly for young people, with emphasis on the morning-after pill.

Meanwhile the new law has had a more unexpected effect: voluntary terminations of pregnancy now take place earlier. Pregnant women are visiting the clinics- 90 percent of abortions are carried out in private hospitals- even before abortion can be practiced, starting in the fifth week. This is a positive trend, in that it reduces the risks involved in such an operation. The more advanced the pregnancy, the greater the danger to the mother's health. Hence Spain, like other countries, has opted for what is known as a time-limit law, which in fact, after 22 weeks of pregnancy, is more restrictive than the previous law enacted in 1985.

The apocalyptic prophesies of an avalanche of 16- and 17-year-old girls deciding to abort, now that they can do it alone without parental consent, have also failed to materialize. As experts in the matter already explained, most such girls still arrive accompanied, normally by their mothers, and only between 10 and 20 percent allege an insurmountable conflict with their parents in taking so difficult a decision which collides head-on with the ideological principles of an important sector of society. This ideological collision is still a hurdle for the new law, pending a Constitutional Court ruling; the PP having appealed against it, in virtue of a set of arguments which the court disallowed years ago in connection with the 1985 law. The weakness of these claims is now highlighted by the obvious error of the catastrophic predictions associated with them.