Abortion Law: How Casado’s Proposed Return To 1985 Law Will Affect Doctors

The President of the Popular Party, Pablo Casado, has affirmed this Thursday that he is in favour of repealing the current abortion law adopted in 2010, and return to the previous law that was approved in 1985 by the Government of Felipe González. This is a law could send doctors to prison from between 1- 3 years and have them struck off the medical registrar if the abortion is performed without conforming to three specific criteria.

Casado has defended his statement in an interview with the Agency EFE,  claiming that he would change the entire current law and recover the previous law which only decriminalized abortion in cases of rape, risk to the physical and mental health of the mother and malformation in the foetus. Only in these three cases would a doctor be legally allowed to perform an abortion.

In the case of malformation of the foetus or danger to the health of the mother , a medical report from another doctor other than the one performing the abortion would be necessary. In case of rape, the victim would have had to have reported the rape to the police.

Prison sentences

The present law allows abortion within the first 14 weeks of gestation, or up to 22 weeks for medical reasons. If a doctor performs an abortion after this time, with the consent of the woman, they could be punished by imprisonment for a period of one to three years and disqualification from exercising as a health profession, or to provide services of any kind in private or public clinics, establishments or gynaecological clinics from one to six years. A return to the 1985 law would imply the following punishments.

From 4 to 8 years of imprisonment and disqualification for the healthcare professional that causes an abortion without the consent of the woman.

From 1 to 3 years of imprisonment and disqualification for a doctor that carries out an abortion with a woman’s but outside of the criteria of rape, foetal impairment or health risks for the mother.

Home arrest of between 12 to 24 weekends for the professional who by negligence causes an abortion and an added penalty of disqualification in the event of professional negligence.

A sentence of 6 months to 1 years in prison or a fine for the woman who has an abortion outside of the 3 legal parameters established by the law.

Https://www.boe.es/buscar/act.php?id=BOE-A-2010-3514

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