Madrid, Spain, Dec 20, 2007 / 16:24 pm
In the wake of investigations that have uncovered illegal abortions and morbid practices at several clinics in Madrid and Barcelona, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) has decided to consider restrictions on abortion.
After the comments by some PSOE leaders, who called those in favor of limits on abortion “followers of the Inquisition,” Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has asked the Socialist party to “reflect” on the current laws on abortion in order to determine if “any modifications are necessary, which would imply the establishing of limits both for the conditions as well as the state of development in which abortion would be legal.”
Zapatero’s proposal came as news broke of a police operation in Barcelona targeting abortion clinics and resulting in the arrests of six people from the facility operated by Dr. Carlos Morin—currently in prison. Those arrested include two anathesiologists, three gynecologists and two psychiatrists who falsified medical records to justify abortions.
The scandal of the discovery of the remains of mutilated babies in the dumpsters of clinics in Madrid and Barcelona has forced the Executive Committee of the PSOE to reconsider its initial position of excluding from its election campaign new regulations on abortion. Socialist party officials said the cases in Barcelona and Madrid have led the party to open an internal debate over how to establish greater legal protection for women and further clarify the reasons for allowing abortions.