Statistics show more than one million abortions practiced in Spain since 1995

Madrid, Spain, Oct 18, 2010 / 22:51 pm

The Institute for Family Policy has denounced the Spanish government for failing to introduce policies to increase the country's birthrate. The institute also noted that the government's persistent support for abortion has led to more than one million abortions in the last 15 years.

The president of the Institute, Eduardo Hertfelder, said it “makes no sense” that while Europe is implementing policies to increase the birth rate and reduce the number of abortions, Spain does nothing. Instead, he continued, the government “passes a backwards-looking law like the recent law on abortion that only makes the problem worse.”

Spain's new abortion law permits abortion up until the 14th week of pregnancy without restrictions.

Hertfelder noted that abortions in Spain have risen from 47,800 in 1994 to more than 115,000 in 2008 – an increase of 142 percent. “We can state that the number of abortions performed in Spain during this period, together with the low birth rate, has been the main cause in the sinking of the youth population and the aging of the populace in Spain,” he warned.

The institute said that the regions in Spain most affected by abortion are Catalonia, with 220,000 abortions in the last 15 years, Madrid, with 204,000 abortions and Andalusia, with 190,000.