Sixteen was once considered an age of transition: from innocence to experience; from naiveté to knowledge. Now it is connoted with raging hormones, risky behaviors, and the ultimate choice. With the recent passage of laws relaxing abortion and the ‘morning after’ pill restrictions, approved by the Spanish socialist government, controversy is spreading.
Ángela nervously approaches the corner of San Jacinto and Pagés del Corro streets and turns left. She clutches a twenty-euro bill in her clammy palm: the amount she earned last Wednesday night for babysitting her two cousins. Her heart is palpitating as the question “What have I done?” reverberates in her mind. She enters the pharmacy, approaches the counter and timidly states: “Hello, I need to buy the morning after pill.”
Ángela, like any other Spanish female over the age of 16, may purchase the so-called “morning after pill” without prescription, following new legislation passed on October 6, 2009. In addition, any young women 16 or older can also have an abortion without the permission of her parents or legal guardian.
Since 1985, abortion in Spain has only been available to minors under 18 (as for the rest of women, regardless of age) in the case of rape, mental illness or, at times, when the fetus is endangered. But now, “all circumstances of abortion are paid for under the public health system. A doctor can say no for reasons of conscience, and one needs to respect that. But, all cases are financed for,” explains Dr. Javier Conde García, a faculty member of Internal Medicine at the Virgen Macarena Hospital of Seville
The newspaper Diario de Sevilla documented that on October 7, 2009, one day after the approval of the bill, there were 400 pharmacies in the city and 800 in Andalusia selling the pill, which serves to interrupt pregnancy in the immediate hours or days after sexual relations.
The recent passage of these laws has caused a radical debate within Spanish society and opinions are divided. Forty-four percent of Spanish adults support the proposed changes, whereas 46 percent are opposed, according to a survey of 2,000 phone interviews conducted by the Noxa Institute for La Vanguardia newspaper.
Pro-Life:“Giving abortion the connotation that it is not only permitted but socially acceptable is the biggest problem. Abortion is then considered an irrevocable right. When a new law only helps a handful of people, the law is no longer a law, but a slavery, of which the general public is submitted to as slaves,” says Francisco J. González, the sub-director of Fundación Vida, a Madrid-based organization devoted to reducing the number of abortions.
“No woman is mature enough to make that decision with independence at [16],” González says. “Wrong decisions are always made. There is no such thing as good abortion… It is a grand error to not protect the young in this way. Parents are the only ones who can give advice with no outside intention. Although their advice may not always be right, youth are forced to reflect.”
Along with the absence of parental involvement, the lack of maturity is of concern to many. “They can drive at 18, but can abort at 16. Now you tell me if that makes sense,” says Julia, a 52-year-old mother of two. “The new abortion law is directed at the lower class and the ignorant. I think that a proper education can avoid these problems. The government is acting late, and it is a problem they don’t know how to fix… This law is going to cause many problems by facilitating a solution for immature people.”
El País daily newspaper informed on November 1, 2009, that “women with fewer resources abort later,” and the Public Health Agency of Barcelona (ASPB) asserted that “more than one third of the women who wait longer to abort had not finished their undergraduate studies,” indicating a connection between socio-economic standing and the timing of abortion.
Javi, a 21-year-old university student, feels similar to Julia, despite the age difference. “I believe that the new law is very hypocritical. We allow girls ages 16 and older to abort, yet we protect and prevent them from many other things. If they are underage for certain things, it should be for all.”
Pro-Choice:“The age at which sex is a possibility is the proper age to make the decision. I prefer that they use contraceptives and condoms primarily, instead of having to use the morning after pill or having to submit oneself to abortion…” explains Gladys, a 49-year-old mother of three. “There is a lot of opposition on behalf of a large percentage of the Spanish population. But I don’t think these new laws will cause promiscuous behavior.”
The Ramón Carande High School, in Seville, faces one or two full-term pregnancies each academic year. “Those are the girls who choose to have the baby…, there are many others who have utilized the morning after pill,” emphasizes Encarnación Quiroga, the school’s academic advisor and psychologist.
On Thursdays, for two hours, a nurse counsels students on general health and sexual education. The confidentiality and regularity of this program inspires confidence and causes “a demand for this service,” states Quiroga. “Students can then come to the health center, where we distribute the morning after pill and contraceptives. The girl usually has to take the pill in the office, to verify that there is no outside deal going on… The parents find out nothing. For the girls, that is extremely important.”
A below the skin contraceptive, first dispensed in 2003 in El Vacie, a shantytown in Seville, and especially useful for women who forget to use regularly other methods, is also becoming extensively popular. In some parts of the country, it is financed 100 percent for patients. El País cited on June 6, 2009, that since December 2002, 16,220 implants had been distributed. Josefa Espinaco, one of the health center coordinators in the settlement, explains that education is urgent. “There, a lot of women know absolutely nothing about pregnancy prevention,” she says. “I have treated a 26 year old woman, with up to eight pregnancies.”
The Future In 2008, there were 115,812 voluntary abortions in Spain, an increase of 3.27 percent from 2007, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Policies. Of these, 10,221 were performed on women between the ages of 15 and 18, mostly in the private health care system. Along with greater ease in obtaining abortions, greater availability of the morning after pill may lead to its increased use as a primary form of contraception. But Dr. Carlos González-Vilardell, the president of the Association of Medical Professionals of Seville, warns that “there could be an increase in sexually transmitted diseases.”
This new legislation will undoubtedly have a monetary impact on the country, as well. In 2006, the autonomous communities and the central state functioned with a total health care system budget of 53,000 million euros (5.9 percent of the country’s GDP), including procedures like abortions and medications like the morning after pill. The new policy makes abortions and the morning after pill easier for more women to obtain, all but ensuring that the government will spend more money providing these services in the future and during the current economic crisis.
In addition to financial concerns, this divisive legislation is already causing many cultural, moral and political questions, splitting popular opinion nearly down the middle and causing increased confrontation between the current socialist government party (PSOE) and the opposition party (Partido Popular).
With all this in mind, many people emphasize that this new legislation and the abortions and morning after pills it provides is not as casual as it might seem.
“Many young people act without thinking. A grand error is to think that this pill will be a solution for all,” says Javi.
Nicole, an 18-year-old university student, doesn’t see it that way. She has utilized the pill on a few occasions as her solution, all credited to “drunken mistakes” or “not having a condom.” And for her, along with many other young females, the option is clear. “It was a very easy decision to make... The last thing I want is a kid.”
