Spanish abortion clinics fined for false advertisements

The Spanish foundation of Christian lawyers, La Fundación de Abogados Cristianos, filed a complaint against two abortion clinics, Clinica Dator and Clinica El Bosque, European Conservative writes. According to Aciprensa, the clinics hid their registration number as businesses dedicated to abortion. The registration number must be recorded in advertisements by Spanish law.

The verdict comes after another judicial ruling on the case in which Spain's largest abortion association, of which both clinics are members, was accused of providing false information on abortion. The Association for Accredited Clinics for the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (ACAI) wrote on its website that abortion has no side effects. According to El Debate, ACAI wrote in its advertisements that abortion "is the most frequent surgical intervention in Spain that does not have side effects", that there is "no risk of sterility" and that the "incidence of complication is very low."

The regional health inspector concluded that the ACAI advertisements were "illicit because they were misleading." Furthermore, it ordered ACAI to publish a link on its website to the ruling of the High Court ruling and add a "brief review of the advertising messages that have determined it."

Earning money

"The ruling of the High Court confirms that these centres have been deceiving women, hiding from them the sequelae that an abortion can cause, with the sole objective of earning money", Poland Castellanos says in a statement. He is the President of the Christian lawyer association.

The foundation plans to use the ruling as an argument for the abolition of funding to abortion clinics. Castellanos says they will present the ruling to the European Parliament to "put an end to the abortion business in Spain."

Irregularities

It is not the first time irregularities have come to light in the Spanish abortion industry. In 2008, already six abortion clinics were fined for violating advertisement laws. At the time, the advertisements in question did not "meet the criteria of transparency and accuracy required by the current regulations", the Spanish health minister Enrique Ruiz Escudero said at the time, according to Aciprensa.