Abortion doctor arrested in Spain

Barcelona, Spain, Nov 27, 2007 / 12:31 pm

After months of investigation and numerous lawsuits, Spanish police have detained abortion doctor Carlos Morin, who owns and operates a chain of clinics under suspicion of performing abortions up to the eighth month of pregnancy.

In 2006, Danish public television broadcast a report that revealed that the Ginemedex clinic in Barcelona—which belongs to the Barnamedic Group, owned by Morin—performs illegal abortions. The Danish report was followed up by a story in the UK’s Daily Telegraph. 

Spanish police began rounding up clinic directors and workers accused of carrying out illegal abortions.  At least four people have been detained, including a direct collaborator of Morin and two women arrested at the Ginemedex Clinic and the Emece Center.

Police investigations began after the organization E-Cristians filed a complaint more than a year ago, asking officials to look into illegal practices at numerous clinics.

Pro-life leaders celebrate

The civil rights website HazteOir.org praised the police for the new investigation and asked for a copy of the complaint Morin has filed against the website, which he says should pay him $148,000 in damages for news stories it published about his clinic.

Ignacio Arsuaga, president of HazteOir.org, noted that abortion after the third month is a crime under Spanish law and that health care officials are failing to both provide alternatives to abortion and to carry out adequate inspection of clinics, “thus favoring absolute impunity for those who only see the elimination of the unborn as a business.”