Ayuso, left: "Go get an abortion somewhere else."

MadridAfter the controversy over abortion in the Madrid City Council, due to the approval with the votes of José Luis Martínez-Almeida's PP of an initiative by Vox for force women to be informed about a false "postural trauma"Isabel Díaz Ayuso joined the public attacks on this right this Thursday. The Madrid president rejected creating a "blacklist of doctors" who refuse to perform abortions, thus declaring herself in rebellion against the ultimatum the Spanish government has given the Community of Madrid to comply with state law and create a registry of conscientious objectors within three months, to which all the rulings have already been issued. "Go get an abortion somewhere else," Ayuso told Más Madrid in the regional assembly's control session. Given the uproar this statement generated, the leader of the PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, was forced to react a few hours later and clarify Ayuso's position: the PP, he said, "guarantees" the right to abortion.

"I will always guarantee that any woman who chooses to terminate her pregnancy can do so with the best medical and psychological care, in accordance with the law," Feijóo said in a statement released to X. The PP president thus reiterated the position of the Popular Party leadership, which is to accept the current law as it is being implemented. "Isabel, Alberto has a letter for you," Spanish President Pedro Sánchez tweeted to X ironically, emulating to some extent the style of his Transport Minister, Óscar Puente, who is accustomed to confronting – sometimes with sarcasm, sometimes without – on social media.

In his statement, Feijóo somewhat disavows Ayuso, although he doesn't engage in confrontation with her and instead focuses on attacking the left, which he accuses of spreading "lies about false abortion bans." According to the conservative president, "the real debate Spain needs is about birth rates, work-life balance, and the future." The abortion issue divides the Popular Party: at the party congress in early July, he avoided addressing the topic and didn't even mention it in his political speech. However, the positions of both Almeida and Ayuso—which make Génova uncomfortable—force them to address this issue, although Feijóo has done so while maintaining the usual equidistance between sectors of the party.

The debate in Madrid

"Only 0.47% of abortions in Madrid are performed in the public health system, forcing women to go to private centers to exercise their right to health," denounces Más Madrid, which, through its spokesperson in the Assembly, Manuela Bergerot, has demanded that "safe abortions" be guaranteed. Ayuso has shielded herself behind the ideological freedom of healthcare professionals to refuse. "[In Madrid] no one will be singled out for having an abortion, but neither will anyone for not having one, and neither will any doctor," she said, affirming that abortion is "a failure as a society" and that "in most cases it could be avoided." In this way, Ayuso is moving closer to the tenets of Vox, which endorsed this position, although its spokesperson in the Assembly, Isabel Pérez Moñino, criticized the PP for not adopting it en masse and for constantly making "shifts."

The Spanish government has taken advantage of Ayuso's controversial statement to raise its profile, just as it did in response to Almeida's initiative –which eventually ended up retreating–. At that moment, the president of the Spanish executive, Pedro Sánchez, reacted by announcing that he would raise protect the right to abortion in the ConstitutionThis Thursday, Sánchez warned in a message to X that he "will not allow" Ayuso to continue without creating a register of objectors - the absence of which limitsde facto access to abortion, according to the Moncloa (Ministry of Justice)—and turn it into a class privilege. "The government will use all legal instruments at its disposal to ensure that women's rights and dignity are respected, including in Madrid. And, if necessary, we will go as far as the Constitution and the Constitutional Court," she stated. Health Minister Mónica García also warned that they will use "all legal tools to ensure abortion is guaranteed in public health."

The battle with Sánchez

A week ago, Madrid's Health Minister, Fátima Matute, said she would comply with the obligation to create a registry. The PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) has accused Ayuso of radicalizing her position and instrumentalizing abortion due to her strategy of challenging both Sánchez and the leader of her own party. However, the regional executive countered that it is the Spanish government that is using this issue to "cover up corruption." "They know that the autonomous communities have jurisdiction over these matters. I am not going to discuss issues that interest the left and that are smokescreens to cover up Sánchez's corruption," said PP spokesperson in the Senate, Alicia García, shortly before Feijóo, in the statement, also accused the debate of being "used" and "utilized" in the Moncloa Palace.