Abortion law Spain

Before Spain legalized abortion in 2010, abortion was only legal when case the pregnancy poses a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman, or in case of rape or fetal malformations. Every year approximately 100.000 abortions took place in Spain, only after a psychiatrist had determined that the woman's mental health is endangered.

Abortion is legal on demand within the first trimester. 

Article 417 of the Penal Code states that Abortion is not a punishable offence if carried out by a medical practitioner in a public or private clinic with the express consent of the pregnant woman under the following circumstances:

  1. To avoid physical or mental harm to the mother (in this case two specialists must consent to the abortion going ahead)
  2. If the pregnancy is the result of rape or an act of incest that has been declared to the police. The abortion must however be carried out within the first 12 weeks.
  3. If the baby is severely physically or mentally handicapped. The abortion must again take place within the first 22 weeks. In this instance two specialists from an approved health centre plus the doctor in charge must certify that the foetus will suffer from its severe defects if allowed to be born.
  4. In the case of an emergency that puts the life of the mother at risk, the abortion may be carried out without the express consent of the doctor and without that of the mother. (Link) (English Translation)

There was a great lack of clarity about the Spanish abortion law. This even led to the prosecutions of Spanish abortion doctors, the closure of abortion clinics and the investigation of Spanish women who had an abortions. Also, a Dutch woman from Boxtel, who had a late abortion in Spain in 2007, was under investigation in the Netherlands.

Abortion in Europe:

The illegality of abortion in countries like Ireland, Malta and Poland, and the differences in gestational limits in which an abortion is legally allowed in the different countries, lead to abortion tourism within Europe and inequality in access to this much needed health care service.

Several European agencies have recommended the legalization of abortion in all of Europe. In April 2008, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called on the organisation member states to guarantee women the right to access to a safe and legal abortion and to lift conditions which restricted access to safe abortion. [3]

In June 2002 the European Parliament adapted the Lancker report[4] which advised to make abortion legal safe and accessible and countries were called upon not to prosecute women who had illegal abortions.

Women on Waves thus acts within the international consensus concerning good sexual education, accessibility of contraceptives and safe legal abortion services.

[3] assembly.coe.int/ASP/NewsManager/EMB_NewsManagerView.asp?ID=3739
[4] Rapport van Lancker A5-00223/2002