Spanish Health Ministry points to ‘abandonment by men’ as main cause of abortions

Madrid, Spain, Apr 30, 2006 / 22:00 pm

A report by the Spanish Ministry of Health is expected to affirm that abandonment by men, not social or economic problems or the supposed grave risks to the physical or psychological health of the mother is the main reason that women obtain abortions in Spain.

Although the report has not yet been made public, in an interview with the newspaper “Alba,” the country’s Health Minister, Elena Salgado, revealed that “the fundamental conclusion of the report is that the main reason women abort is because of abandonment by the man.”

“Curiously it has nothing to do with the alleged risks to the psychiatric health of the mother, which supposedly accounts for 97% of legal abortions in Spain.  Nor do supposed socio-economic reasons stand out, despite the repeated threats to legally allow abortion for these supposed socio-economic reasons,” the newspaper pointed out.

The preliminary conclusions of the report also “coincide with a study carried out last December by the Association of Victims of Abortion (AVA) in which 3000 women between the ages of 14 and 40 who have had abortions were surveyed.”

That study showed that the “main motivating factor for the abortion in 87% of the cases was the lack of emotional support.”  In addition, “in 71% of the cases, abandonment by the father is the result of ‘emotional blackmail’.”

The newspaper reported that the AVA study likewise points out that all the women polled said they did not “receive sufficient information about the possible side-effects of abortion.  The study also revealed that 99.1% of the women acknowledged the lack of information about alternatives to abortion, such as social or institutional assistance or adoption.”

“The data reveals the lack of support and the pressure endured by pregnant women from fathers, work, society and doctors.  If the message women received were one of support,” the newspaper stated, “women would continue ahead with their pregnancy.”

The AVA and other pro-family groups have called on the Ministry of Health to create a network of support for women in difficult pregnancies.  “For the moment, they have not received any response,” the newspaper reported.