MADRID, May 10, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The socialist government of Spain is attempting to pass legislation that would force doctors to commit abortions. The population of Spain is overwhelmingly Catholic and International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has made little progress in imposing surgical abortion in the publicly funded hospital system. Up to 96% of Spanish doctors refuse to do abortions and IPPF shows that most abortions are committed in private facilities. However, chemical abortion by mifepristone is offered in hospitals. The proposed legislation would strip the licenses of doctors who refuse to abort on the grounds of denial of treatment. The bill would allow abortion if two doctors certify the mother’s request, after which no doctor would be allowed to refuse to carry out the abortion. The bill also proposes to create an official list of doctors who refuse to abort children. Health care professionals have complained that the measure would create a ‘witch hunt’ where constitutional right to life and freedom of conscience are not respected.
Spanish law allows abortion up to twelve weeks in almost all cases for the mother’s life, ‘mental health,’ for rape, incest and for eugenic purposes. Spain has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates at 1.2%. A recent UNFPA press release warned that the population Europe “is moving into a new demographic regime.” The release cautiously suggested that, “Key policy challenges are posed by a decrease in working-age populations and acceleration of ageing in many European countries due to low fertility and declining mortality.”