Some 80 people fell to their knees this Saturday before the dator Clinic, in Madrid, specialized in voluntary interruption of pregnancy. With the help of a large wooden cross, a megaphone and several anti-abortion banners, the congregants read for almost an hour Bible verses about the “flames of hell & rdquor; and the “sacred fruit of your womb & rdquor ;, they prayed the Hail Mary and shouted “Long live Christ the King!”
Various cops They watched what was happening there, but none of them took the data of the attendees, despite the fact that this type of act may constitute a new crime prosecuted ex officio, without the need for a prior complaint. In force since the middle of last month, the law punishes imprisonment from three months to one year or with jobs for the benefit of the community from 31 to 80 days to those who harass a woman “through harassing, offensive, intimidating or coercive acts that undermine their freedom & rdquor ;. The organizers, an ultra-Catholic group called Rooted, had not communicated the concentration to the Government Delegation in Madrid. But absolutely nothing happened, beyond the fact that sources from this organization later explained that they would open a sanctioning procedure for not reporting the concentration.
Claimed for years by the clinics, and similar to the regulations of other European countries, the penal reform, according to the parties that promoted it, is designed to avoid such acts. “The harassers at the doors of the clinics have only one intention, and it is not to pray: it is to coerce freedom of women & rdquor ;, he pointed out during the parliamentary debate Laura Berja, PSOE deputy. However, the new offense has failed to stop the harassment in these first three weeks. Unlike. According to those responsible for the clinics, the harassment is increasing.
the target of anger
dator was the first center which obtained accreditation in Spain to practice the voluntary interruption of pregnancy in 1985. Since then, it has been the main target of the most radical anti-abortion anger, which in recent days has seen strengthened its position thanks to news such as the arrival of the United States last Monday, where the Supreme Court is preparing to overturn the judicial precedent that constitutionally enshrined the law in that country.
“These groups think that if they manage to close Dator, the rest of the clinics will fall. But they are not going to get it & rdquor ;, says their spokesman, Sonya Lamas. The headquarters had not been attacked for more than a year. On April 28, however, its windows and doors appeared in the early morning painted blue. A few weeks earlier, the far-right association make yourself heard had opened an office just opposite the clinic, from which they have organized street concerts and projected ultrasounds on a giant screen. Painted pink and purple, a baby appears on its façade, along with slogans such as “Are you going to run out of her smile?”
And this Saturday the concentration took place, the first of its kind since it is a crime to harass women who decide to abort. “Criminal reform is not going to stop us. There are people who for personal reasons are afraid of receiving a sanction. But not me, and like me many others, especially young people, more willing to face an illegitimate and illegal law, typical of regimes like the former Soviet Union & rdquor ;, said the spokesman for the call, Jose Velarde, ignoring that a norm like the Spanish one has already existed for a long time in Germany, France and the UK.
But Velarde was right about something: most of those who accompanied him were students, college or high school. They were on the side of the street. To the other, a small feminist group, who had mobilized to show their rejection. In the middle, the policemen, watching without doing anything.
Convictions “impossible”
The centers of Barcelona They have the same impression as those in Madrid about the practical effects that the new law has had so far. Vicente Sanchis, worker of the Emece Clinic, He explains that for a few weeks four older people have been standing in front of the headquarters, trying to stop the women who come to interrupt their pregnancies and handing them brochures. “It had been a long time since that happened & rdquor ;, points out. In the Aragon Clinic, Also in the Catalan capital, they have similar experiences.
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“I am very afraid that convictions are going to be impossible & rdquor ;, says Jose Antonio Bosch, lawyer of the Association of Accredited Clinics for the Interruption of Pregnancy (ACAI)an entity that in 2018 interviewed 300 women who had had abortions throughout Spain: 89% had felt harassed and 66% threatened. “It is very difficult that women who have had an abortion, and who are the ones who suffer severe coercion, go to declare before the judge. They do not want, and it is quite understandable, to get into a judicial circuit which can last one or two years. So the judge is robbed of the element on which the harassment must be based & rdquor ;, he continues. That is why ACAI defends that it would have been much more useful that the law establish security perimeters around the centers, as is the case in France. Even so, Bosch is confident that the reform will at least serve as “motivation” to the police to “act” against this harassment.
But something like that did not happen this Saturday. When the prayers ended, the radical anti-abortionists got back on their feet, grabbed each other, smiled, swayed in front of the feminists in a defiant attitude, shouted “Long live Christ the King!” they sang the song of the same title (“our sovereign Lord / fighting for Him is an honor & rdquor;) and then they left, very satisfied.