Over the past five years, Spain’s autonomous communities have allocated at least 150 million euros to fund abortions in private medical centers. This measure was forced by the inability of public hospitals to handle the volume of such procedures. In 2024, more than 106,000 terminations of pregnancy were performed in the country, with only one fifth taking place in public facilities.
In some regions, such as Madrid and Andalusia, the share of abortions performed in public hospitals was minimal—less than one percent. In the capital region, more than 162,000 such procedures were registered over a decade, but only 177 were carried out in public clinics. This disparity is due not only to a lack of resources, but also because many doctors refuse to participate in such procedures on personal grounds.
The Ministry of Health insists that the country provides all conditions for this medical service in public facilities. However, in practice, women encounter a number of obstacles: a shortage of specialists, a lack of specialized departments, and the stigmatization of the procedure itself. As a result, most turn to private clinics, where the services are funded by regional budgets.
Experts note that medication abortions are more commonly performed in public institutions, while surgical procedures—which require more experience and equipment—have been almost entirely shifted to the private sector. To change this situation, not only investment is needed, but also a revision of medical staff training approaches and the establishment of specialized departments in public hospitals. For now, private clinics continue to receive significant sums from the budget, while access to these services in public facilities remains extremely limited.
