‘Spain Faces 30,000 back-street abortions’

A new study predicts that a huge number of Spanish women with unwanted pregnancies could resort to underground abortion clinics in the future

The study says the women will use clinics both in Spain and abroad if the country’s strict new abortion laws are passed in parliament.  

Spain’s Official Abortion Clinics Association (ACAI) has announced that 62.3% of Spanish women wanting to undergo an abortion will resort to desperate measures if the draft law is approved.

ACAI surveyed more than 6,000 women and 30.37% of them answered they would abort in an illegal clinic in Spain while 31.4% said they would go overseas to countries like neighbouring France and Portugal.

ACAI President Francisca García said that the 29.5% of women who would continue with their pregnancy would do so “with resignation and anxiety” as they “wouldn’t dare or don’t feel capable of opting for something else”.

Based on these figures, ACAI estimates that 30,000 women would travel abroad to have an abortion while another 30,000 would do so illegally in Spain.

García criticized the Spanish Justice Minister: “All Gallardón’s law will do is reduce the number of abortions on paper”.

Under Spain’s new draft bill, women will only be legally able to have abortions if they have been raped or if the mother’s health is at risk.

At the moment only 4.97% of abortions in Spain are carried out for reasons relating to the baby or the mother’s health.

The law has yet to be passed but the government holds a clear majority in the Spanish parliament. 

“We will rebel and carry on with abortions. Let the courts decide if our actions are within the law or against it,” García added.