- A representation of the workers of the Askabide clinic appeared in the Parliament of Vitoria-Gasteiz to explain the situation of the workers of this clinic and the women who come to it to interrupt their pregnancy, as the 40-day movement for life against abortion has carried out campaigns of threats and harassment in the centers of Vitoria, Bilbao and San Sebastian.
They come to the Commission on Human Rights, Equality and Justice through EH Bildu. They explain that sporadic protests began in 2014, but mobilizations “intensified” in 2022, weeks prior to the adoption of abortion law reform. This reform criminalizes harassment of women attending a clinic to voluntarily terminate their pregnancy.
The staff of the clinic has explained that these protests mainly affect the center of Vitoria and that people from all over the Spanish state attend. The organization offers buses to go.
Harassment of the right to abortion
In these concentrations, they explain, threaten and plague workers who go to clinics and women. As an example of persecution, they say they are called ‘murderers’ and they will receive a ‘reward’.
In the complaints presented by the clinic, the "one hundred percent" of the identified people have received the order of removal, so they cannot approach less than a hundred meters from the health center. However, it is clear that the individualisation of individual complaints is not a valid way of combating them.
Request for accountability to the Government of Lakua
That is why they have asked for “help” from the institutions. Among other things, the Basque Government should be present in the proceedings already initiated in the courts, for “responsibility” in the protection of women attending clinics. In fact, 99% of women attending the Askabide clinic go from Osakidetza, they say.