Overview

• Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez sent formal letters to Aragón, Asturias, Illes Balears and the Community of Madrid requiring them to create and regulate a register of health professionals who conscientiously object to performing abortions.
• The demand cites the 2023 reform of Spain’s sexual and reproductive health law and a unanimously approved 2024 Interterritorial protocol that obliges every region to maintain such a register.
• Moncloa set a three‑month deadline and warned it will activate legal mechanisms, including going to court, if the regions do not comply.
• The push follows a Madrid City Council move, initiated by Vox and backed by PP councillors, to publicize a disputed “post‑abortion syndrome,” which the Health Ministry and international standards do not recognize.
• Reactions diverged as Asturias signaled quick compliance while Madrid’s Isabel Díaz Ayuso and Health Minister Fátima Matute argued a registry would stigmatize professionals; in parallel, the Government plans to amend Royal Decree 825/2010 to block misleading information and is proposing a constitutional reform to entrench abortion rights, as PSOE and allied parties press related motions in local and regional bodies.