The Community of Madrid has announced that it will not create a register of conscientious objectors to abortion, leaving the decision in the hands of the courts. “In the Community of Madrid, we believe in legal, safe and rare abortion. We do not intend to single out or persecute those who have abortions, or those who do or do not do so,” Health Minister Fatima Matute said in a statement to the press this Friday. “We prefer a court telling us what to do rather than a sectarian government,” he added.
Today marks the one-month deadline for Pedro Sánchez’s government, the Ministry of Health, to ask Aragon, Madrid and the Balearic Islands to register doctors who refuse to perform voluntary abortions in public hospitals. The Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso guarantees that it will do no such thing and ignore its mandate. The president has declared absenteeism and is not abiding by the law. The central government had given 30 days to compile a database containing the names of those involved. It hasn’t been done.
This decision should come as no surprise to anyone. The Community of Madrid had warned that legal authorities were investigating the matter. A government spokesperson said in October that the records were “absolutely worthless.” Mr Matute confirmed that today. However, the arguments used by the counselors do not correspond to the operation of that databank. Access to this information is limited and those who object are not asked why. The central government argues that this is the opposite and that it is acting to guarantee a woman’s right to abortion as required by law.
(News in development).
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