Franco’s gone, but 30 years on, scare stories and vague legislation are still pushing pregnant women abroad.

MADRID - When General Franco was still in power, Spanish women who needed to terminate a pregnancy - and who could afford it - had to do so abroad, typically in London.

But more than three decades after the return to democracy, Spain's abortion legislation remains at best vague, and the state’s healthcare system overwhelmingly fails to meet the needs of women who need to end a pregnancy.

Now, with several high-profile prosecutions having been brought against privately run clinics in Madrid and Barcelona by Catholic groups supported by some sections of the opposition Popular Party, growing numbers of women - particularly those who require an abortion beyond 22 weeks for medical reasons - once again have to travel abroad.

More than 98 percent of abortions in Spain are carried out at private clinics. But thanks to the scare stories being spread by anti-abortion groups and politicians such as Ana Botella, Madrid's deputy mayor and wife of former prime minister José María Aznar, most are being very cautious, particularly regarding late terminations.

Botella claims to have seen evidence of seven-month-old foetuses and "mincing machines," but so far, police investigations have failed to locate any evidence in support of that claim. But with the media spotlight on them, most clinics are fearful of further legal action.

In 2007 alone, the Madrid regional health authority received some 208 complaints against abortion clinics - many simply by email, but it investigated each one.

In Spain, abortion is only permitted under three circumstances: rape (up to 12 weeks); malformed foetus (up to 22 weeks); and serious physical or mental risk to the mother (no time limit).

Therefore, after 22 weeks, if the foetus is found to be damaged, the mother can only abort on the basis that she faces serious physical or psychological risk.

But given the ambiguity of the law, clinics face the risk of prosecution if they carry out a termination.

In France, the law is different. Women have the right to an abortion without question during the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy.

After that, they can terminate if the health of the mother is endangered, or if there is a risk that the child has a life-threatening illness or condition. Furthermore, the state health service carries out abortions, although medical staff can be excused on the grounds of religious conviction.

Several leading Spanish clinics now inform women seeking late abortions on medical grounds on how to do so within the French public health system.

"We have to give them some way out, because when they come to us they are desperate," says Empar Pineda of the Isadora clinic in Madrid. She says that the process takes less than a week, and that under European Union legislation there is no charge to Spaniards for the service.

"Every week we get around four or five calls from women in this situation, and we tell them how they can terminate their pregnancy in Paris," says Empar Pineda. She cites a number of serious cases.

"We saw one young woman aged 19 whose pregnancy was well advanced. The hospital had discovered that her child would be born without a brain, but it refused to terminate the pregnancy. She then had to undergo the appalling experience of giving birth to a child that she knew would die immediately.

"Another woman is at this moment fighting with the public health system to have an abortion. The foetus is genetically malformed. The necessary scans were not carried out when they should have been, and now the hospital is trying to wash its hands of the matter, leaving her to fend for herself."

[El Pais / Monica C. Belaza / Expatica]