Abortion is not a crime
Spanish women fight back In the same year as their entry into the European Economic Community (EEC), the Spanish state has also joined the right-wing alliance against abortion rights. It has joined with two other countries in the EEC where abortion is illegal — Belgium and Ireland.
This socialist dominated government has capitulated to the pressures of the church and the right-wing and the tribunal has been able to sabotage the proposed extension of abortion rights.
The following article is reprinted from La Breche, 27 April 1985, paper of the Swiss section of the Fourth International.
Since it was written the womens movement in Spain has launched a massive campaign in defence of abortion rights. In Barcelona and Pamplona 15,000 demonstrated in each city, in Madrid 10,000 marched in a week of action from 22-28 April.
It is possible to obtain an abortion in Spain but sometimes it can cost 80,000 to 100,000 pesetas (about £485). Because of the legal risks involved in this, it is only a solution for women from urban areas who have access to information and a sufficient income.
After the rejection by the tribunal, some socialist deputies proposed a new bill which would contain a 'social clause' authorising abortion in cases where the pregnancy would cause serious social problems for the pregnant woman. The socialist parliamentary group decided 'that this was not the moment and rejected the proposal. This rejection by the socialists is more serious than it seems at first because they refused to introduce this 'social clause' into the existing bill, even when the verdict of the constitutional tribunal left that one question open. Under their law the only legal abortions will therefore be on therapeutic, eugenic and ethical grounds. This will affect about 4% of the women who have abortions every year.
According to Empar Pineda, the spokesperson of the commission on abortion of the Feminist Movement in abortion of the Feminist Movement in Madrid, 'Now is the time to say to the government, when they legislate on abortion, that their starting point should be the right of women and not the idea that abortion is a crime which they are going to decriminalise in three cases.' (El Pais, 18 April 1985).
The coordination of womens groups in Barcelona has called a demonstration for April 25. This mobilisation will be decisive. Not only in the short term for obtaining even this minimalist legislation; but also because many women will still face harassment and imprisonment for the "crime' of abortion. In 1982, during the famous trial in Bilbao, the mobilisations won an acquital for the ten women and one man on trial for the crime of abortion. This battle for womens rights is also a battle against the right and against reaction. The feminist movement must not be left alone to fight.
Eva LAMAS
The Spanish constitutional tribunal has recently declared against the law on decriminalisation of abortion which had been presented to the socialist government and accepted by parliament. This law would have made termination of pregnancy legal in the case of rape of the mother, the malformation of the foetus or danger to the life of the mother. However, the entire law was declared unconstitutional on the grounds that it did not contain sufficient guarantees under article 15 of the constitution to protect the right to life for 'everyone' According to the Tribunal only 'ethical' abortions (that is following pregnancy due to the rape of the mother) are constitutional and even then only if the rape has been reported to the police.
In the two other cases, the constitutional tribunal would demand medical guarantees that 'abuse' would be avoided; anarantee that abuse would he avoided. such guarantees to include a second doctor's opinion, and the establishment of special centres within hospitals authorised to practise terminations. The constitutional tribunal was divided sixsix on this and it was the chairperson of this body who tipped the balance in favour of blocking the new law.
Abortion in Spain will thus remain a crime. According to the World Health Organisation, unwanted pregnancies exist for 50% of Spain's 8 million women of child-bearing age. The pregnant woman may first attempt to abort herself using all sorts of products (parsley, saffron, bleach etc.) When they fail to obtain the desired result, they will resort to a "backstreet abortionist' which costs about 30,000 pesetas (about £160).
The sociologist, Josuna Aguninaga estimates that there are about 32,000 abortions performed in Spain usually with terrible consequences for the health of the mother ending in hospitalisation and sometimes death.
Every year, a growing number of women go to London or Amsterdam or to the French border in order to obtain abortion in decent conditions. According to official figures given by the British census office 22,999 Spanish women came to get abortions in Britain in 1983. In June, 1984 the constitutional tribunal decriminalised the obtaining of abortions abroad. So under this so-called socialist government only women who are able to get information and money together have the right to a wanted child.
Another possibility for Spanish women is to obtain an abortion in Tangiers. The death in 1983 of a woman with four children who was trying to obtain an abortion in Tangiers revealed the existence of this 'London of the South' frequented every year by hundreds of young Andalusian women.