Spanish bishop denounces abortion in Catholic hospitals

The office of Monsignor Josep Ángel Saiz Meneses, Catholic bishop of Tarrasa – a town of the Catalonian region of Spain near Barcelona, responded on August 27 to reports in local media that Catholic hospitals in the Mediterrenean city are providing abortions. According to a statement from the diocese, the church investigated the reports and determined that “Voluntary Interuptions of Pregnancy” were indeed being carried out at the Granollers General Hospital in Barcelona. This revelation was provided Bishop Saiz Meneses to “his superiors” in the church. According to the church statement, the two clerics on staff at the hospital are opposed to the practice and had given notice to their superiors early this year. So far, no statement has emerged from the office of Cardinal Archbishop of Barcelona, Lluís Martínez Sistach, under whose jurisdiction the hospitals operate. The other hospital operating under Church auspices and offering abortions is Sant Pau General Hospital, according to Spanish daily ABC. The conference of Catholic bishops of Spain have referred the matter to Cardinal Martinez Sistach, but have not released any statement of its own about the matter.

According to the newspaper, administrators of the Sant Pau Hospital stated that only those abortions “permitted by law” are carried out at that facility. A spokesperson for the hospital said, “We are not doing anything illegally. We are only complying with the law.” Management of the hospital is shared by the Catholic Archdiocese of Barcelona, the Catalonian regional government, and the Barcelona city government. Hospital spokespersons added that “In this center, only those Voluntary Interruptions of Pregnancy that are established by law.”

In a year, 20 of these had been carried out with no public protest on the part of the Barcelona diocese. As for the Granollers General Hospital, spokespersons said on August 26 that until Spain’s new Abortion Law was passed in July of this year, the hospital “had only carried out surgical procedures in those cases in which clinically – and only until 20 weeks of gestation – there had been identified a serious fetal deformity.” They added that “in no case were there any Voluntary Pregnancy Interruptions carried out because of a psychological disorder of the mother caused by the pregnancy.” Two Catholic clerics, who report to the Barcelona archdiocese, are involved in the management of the Granollers General Hospital.

Spain’s prolife organizations were quick to condemn the practice of such abortions in hospitals espousing Catholic doctrine as regarding life issues and expressed “indignation” and “revulsion.” Dr. Josep Maria Simon, of the International Federation of Christian Physicians, was quoted as saying “I have no doubt that the representatives of the Church (both of whom are canons of the cathedral of Barcelona) at the Sant Pau Hospital have expressed their rejection of these practice, even while it is clear that they had not made this complaint public; this may have led some people to think that they are unopposed.” The physician added “To interrupt a life is very bad and it should be made clear publicly by the church representatives who function at the center.” According to Dr. Simon, the two clerics have two options: “Leave the hospital because its practices contradict Catholic teachings or to become much mor e combative than they have been so as to make their influence worthwhile in the institution.”

Foro Espanol de la Familia (Family Forum of Spain) expressed shock at the news. Benigno Blanco, president of the Forum – the largest citizens’ group in the country – said “it is scandalous that a hospital in which the Church is involved, directly or indirectly, should commit even one abortion.” He added, “It is contradictory, with the absolutely model position held by the Church in defense of life,” while he asked that the Church should “quickly rectify and resolve this situation.” Josep Miró i Ardèvol , who leads E-cristians, a Catalonian prolife organization, said however that he is convinced that the “representatives of the Church are not aware that this type of procedure was being performed in the hospitals mentioned.”

Debate over Spain’s abortion law, modified in July 2010, and sex education in publicly-funded schools, has also been lively this year. Blanco, of Family Forum, said this week that the Spanish government “promotes promiscuity” among school children with the sex curriculum it recently introduced. He said that government policy actually causes sexual promiscuity and increases the number of pregnancies and abortion, adding “This is a mistake from the health point of view.” According to Blanco, the Socialist government’s policy competes with parents’ rights to educate their children according to their convictions. The Spanish government says Blanco, apparently does not “take into account that there are different views both ideological and moral about sexuality and that it has no right to impose nor suggest them in school.” He remarked that Spain’s Socialist government’s position it “totalitarian, a violator of ideological and religious pluralism…”

For his part, Pedro Rascón of the Spanish Confederation of School Parents’ Associations said he agrees with including sex education in schools. He claimed that this does not mean that parents should lose their role, adding that sex education in school is “not an intrusion.”

Abortion in Spain is freely available without parental or spousal consent during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. Until the twenty-second week of pregnancy, abortion is permitted in cases of a grave risk to the health of the mother or baby. After the twenty-second week of gestation, abortion is permitted if “abnormalities are detected in the fetus that are incompatible with life,” or if “there is detected in the fetus an extremely grave or incurable infirmity at the time of diagnosis and is confirmed by a medical committee." Those girls older than the age of 16 years who wish an abortion must notify their parents even while their permission is not required.