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 forcing 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 a maximum of three months, which all autonomous regions are required to follow. "Go get your abortions somewhere else," Ayuso reiterated on Más Madrid during the regional assembly's control session. Given the uproar this statement generated, the leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, was forced to react a few hours later, although he avoided a clash with the leader of the Madrid PP.

"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. Now, at the same time, the statement does not confront the Madrid president and attacks the left, which it accuses of spreading "lies about false abortion bans." According to Feijóo, "the real debate that Spain needs is about birth rate, conciliation, and the future." The abortion issue divides the Popular Party, which avoided addressing the issue at the party congress in early July and did not even mention it in its political presentation. 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.

"Only 0.47 percent 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, "insures the insured." 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 closer to the postulates 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 "turns."

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—and that abortion is "classist." "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 assured. 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." The PP leadership has once again avoided disavowing Ayuso by remaining low on the issue. "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.