Abortion in Spain
Encyclopedia
Abortion in Spain was fully legalized on July 5, 2010. It is currently available on request during the first trimester.
It was available in a restricted form from July 5, 1985. Under the previous law it was only allowed under the following conditions: to preserve the mental health of the mother (in which case two specialists have to approve); if the pregnancy was a byproduct of rape or incest reported to the police (the abortion must be performed in the first twelve weeks); if the fetus would suffer from deformities or mental handicaps upon birth (two specialists had to agree on the findings); or if the mother's physical health was in immediate danger (in which case an abortion could be performed without the consent of the woman's family physician or the woman herself).
Under the previous law, the threshold of "endangering the mother's mental health" was reported to be very low, making it a loophole for abortions on-demand. The abortion rate has more than doubled from 54,000 in 1998 to 112,000 in 2007.
In 2009, the Socialist government started to liberalize current abortion laws, sending a new law through the lower house of Parliament which would allow abortion on-demand for pregnancies through the fourteenth week. The government almost succeeded in lowering the age of consent for abortions to 16, but in the end the bill states that girls aged 16 and 17 must inform her parents (but does not need parental consent) for an abortion except if the girl comes from an abusive household and such news will cause more strife. An estimated one million protesters turned to the streets of Madrid in protest of the proposed abortion law changes. The law won final approval on February 24, 2010 and came into force on July 5, 2010.
It was available in a restricted form from July 5, 1985. Under the previous law it was only allowed under the following conditions: to preserve the mental health of the mother (in which case two specialists have to approve); if the pregnancy was a byproduct of rape or incest reported to the police (the abortion must be performed in the first twelve weeks); if the fetus would suffer from deformities or mental handicaps upon birth (two specialists had to agree on the findings); or if the mother's physical health was in immediate danger (in which case an abortion could be performed without the consent of the woman's family physician or the woman herself).
Under the previous law, the threshold of "endangering the mother's mental health" was reported to be very low, making it a loophole for abortions on-demand. The abortion rate has more than doubled from 54,000 in 1998 to 112,000 in 2007.
In 2009, the Socialist government started to liberalize current abortion laws, sending a new law through the lower house of Parliament which would allow abortion on-demand for pregnancies through the fourteenth week. The government almost succeeded in lowering the age of consent for abortions to 16, but in the end the bill states that girls aged 16 and 17 must inform her parents (but does not need parental consent) for an abortion except if the girl comes from an abusive household and such news will cause more strife. An estimated one million protesters turned to the streets of Madrid in protest of the proposed abortion law changes. The law won final approval on February 24, 2010 and came into force on July 5, 2010.