EUROPE/SPAIN - The Institute for Family Policies warns: “If the law calling for free abortion proposed by the government takes affect, by 2015 Spain will be the country with the highest abortion rate in the European Union.”

government is trying to impose, if approved, would turn Spain into the country with the highest abortion rate in the European Union, by 2015, with over 230,000 abortions per year. In fact by 2015, keeping in mind the current situations and the consequences of the law in question in the 12 initial weeks of pregnancy and according to IFP estimates, evidence shows that there would be over 232,000 abortions per year in Spain, an average of 637 children per day who would be aborted (an average one abortion every 2.3 minutes). Therefore, Spain’s abortion rate will not only continue rising (in the last 10 years it has risen 10% each year), but with this new free abortion law, the increase would be greatly accelerated.
The situation is even more striking when it is compared to the rest of Europe, the IFP President said. While in the last 10 years, in the various 27 countries within the European Union, the abortion rate has decreased or remained about the same, in this same time period (1996-2006), Spain has seen a 99% increase in abortions, which means a 10% average increase per year. Thus, Eduardo Herfelder explains, the admission of free abortion up to 12 weeks’ gestation period, together with the current abortion law that permits abortion up until the final week of gestation for the so-called “psychological health-risk to the mother,” and the recently passed law of non-disclosure of personal information that increases the risk of fraud, could all lead to a “ripple effect” among the other EU countries. The IFP, therefore, is making an urgent appeal to the government, asking that they think twice before approving the proposed free abortion law. (RG) (Agenzia Fides 18/07/2008)