Madrid (EFE).- The new abortion law, which will be approved in the coming weeks, shields public health as a reference center when it comes to undergoing a voluntary termination of pregnancy, but currently only three communities (Cantabria, Balearic Islands and Catalonia) perform more abortions in public centers than in private ones.
With the background controversy of the new protocol to stop abortions in Castilla y León, the new law promoted by the Ministry of Equality, and which seeks to expand the right of women to voluntary termination of pregnancy, continues its parliamentary process pending to be approved in the Senate.
The reform of the law on sexual and reproductive health and the voluntary interruption of pregnancy stipulates that the autonomous communities must reorganize their resources so that all women can have an abortion in a public center, incorporating the provision of proximity to the home.
Only 15.6% of abortions were performed in public
However, the latest report on voluntary interruptions of pregnancy (IVE) carried out in Spain during the year 2021 published by the Ministry of Health paints a very different scenario and is that less than 16% of abortions (15.6%) are carried out in public centers last year.
Of the total interventions performed (90,189); 13.61 percent occurred in hospitals (7.34% private and 6.27% public) and 86.39% were referred to accredited centers for the termination of pregnancy, of which the 76.99 percent were private and only 9.4% public.
Only three communities prioritized public health when carrying out abortions. Cantabria, with a total of 824 voluntary interruptions of pregnancy (IVE), carried out 67.3% of these in public centers; in the Balearic Islands the percentage rose to 61.7%, while in Catalonia it was 52.5%.
On the other hand, Extremadura -in addition to Ceuta and Melilla- has not performed any of the 1,284 abortions reported in 2021 in a public health center, while in the Community of Madrid only 2 of the 15,188 interventions have been performed in public (0.01%); and in Murcia only 1 of the 3,267 (0.03%).
Below 0% are also Andalusia (0.05%) with 10 public abortions out of a total of 17,487; Castilla La Mancha 0.06% -with 2 IVE of 3,203; and Aragón with 5 of 1,917 (0.26%).
Navarra and Galicia, with 30.9% and 22% respectively, would be in a better position than the average, but still with data far removed from what is contemplated in the new law.
La Rioja will hire staff to guarantee this right
Other communities such as La Rioja, which of the 332 voluntary abortions carried out last year, only carried out 11 in public centers (3.31%), has already announced that it will guarantee the right to abortion in public health and will maintain the option to guarantee the voluntary interruption of pregnancy outside the community to those women from La Rioja who opt for it.
The Minister of Health of the Government of La Rioja, María Somalo, has informed EFE that the La Rioja public health system will hire personnel from outside the community so that this right can be guaranteed in all its options in the San Pedro de Logroño hospitals and the hospital in Calahorra.
And he recalled that, currently, abortion is not guaranteed within the public health system of this community because all SERIS health professionals chose to exercise their right to conscientious objection. EFE
mop-del/ram
