Dimitris Kouimtsidis
NEARLY 90% of pregnant women who want to have an abortion have been harassed by anti-abortion groups, according a report.
Asociacion de Clinicas Acreditadas para la Interrupcion del Embarazo (ACAI) is an organisation that runs abortion clinics and has released a report stating that 89% of women who have tried to terminate their pregnancies have been pressured by anti-abortion groups.
Sonia Lamas, a spokesperson for the organisation described some of the examples of abuse the clinics face: “We reported months ago the harassment we suffered, but the authorities don’t even come to clean the graffiti.”
Of that 89%, 67% felt threatened during the medical procedure because of the harassment they had faced previously.
Anti-abortion groups such as Hazte Oír, Derecho a Vivir, Más Futuro and Asociación Sifra dedicate a good part of their time and resources to put obstacles up in place for women trying to get an abortion.
Examples of that include going to clinics in the mornings and planting themselves there, waiting for women in order to persuade them to change their minds, sometimes by giving them brochures and sometimes even through harassment, by grabbing their arms or calling them ‘murderers’.
A spokesperson for Sifra said: “Our goal is to help people who are going through an unexpected pregnancy and women who in the past had an abortion and are now living with the consequences.”
According to ACAI, the Dator clinic in Madrid is one of the clinics that suffers the most, with groups going there daily.
Lamas spoke about a day when she was followed back from work with a protester shouting at her: “Do you work here for money? I can help you get another job.”
ACAI have asked for a ‘safety distance’ created that separates protesters from the clinic, similar to that of smokers and schools and hospitals.
So far however nothing has been done.
In the Madrid area in 2018, 18,914 women had an abortion according to the Ministry of Health, which represents a decrease of 9.7%.
