The High Court of Justice of Madrid has ordered the Community of Madrid to "immediately" begin the procedures for creating a registry of conscientious objectors to voluntary terminations of pregnancy, a list mandated by law and approved by the Interterritorial Council (comprised of representatives from all autonomous communities). The ruling by the eighth section of the court's administrative chamber is a further step in the ongoing dispute between the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso and the Ministry of Health, headed by Mónica García, which has resisted establishing a registry of professionals who refuse to perform abortions. In fact, the judges upheld the precautionary measures requested by the Ministry. The court specifies that although the precautionary measure does not require the Community of Madrid to create the registry immediately, it does impose the obligation to initiate the necessary administrative procedures to develop and approve it, in compliance with current regulations. However, she justifies the decision as a way to "combat the passivity" of the Madrid administration, since she believes there is a "risk of delay" and that the Ayuso government will try to "indefinitely prolong" the creation of the list.

The power struggle that the government of the popular Isabel Díaz Ayuso is maintaining with the Ministry of Health over thenon-compliance with the abortion law The case has a new chapter in the High Court of Justice of Madrid. The department of Minister Mónica García has filed an administrative appeal demanding that the high court compel the Community of Madrid to create a registry of physicians who are conscientious objectors to abortion, a list mandated by the 2023 law and used to help plan gynecological services in healthcare centers. "It is proven that the regional administration has not complied with the obligation imposed on it by law. [...] It is also beyond doubt that it has not responded, nor is there any record of it having taken any action, in relation to the request made by the Minister of Health to the Regional Minister of Health," argues the document, to which this publication has had access.

The fifty years of the Spanish monarchy holding the head of state have fractured the right-wing bloc. The event, intended to commemorate the half-century of the Bourbons' rule since the death of Francisco Franco, will be boycotted by the far-right Vox party. Santiago Abascal's party announced on Tuesday that it will not participate and will once again snub King Felipe VI. "We are not going to participate in the farce that the government has prepared, which is an ode to Sánchez's totalitarian regime," stated Vox spokesperson in the lower house, Pepa Millán, who avoided commenting on the dictator. In her opinion, this event and the rest of those scheduled for this 50th anniversary of Franco's death are not "a tribute to democracy, the Transition, or the rule of law." In fact, the far-right party made it clear in mid-October that it would not participate in any event with the Spanish government where it could not denounce its alleged "criminal and corrupt actions." Aside from Vox's boycott, the absence of Sumar, Podemos, ERC, Junts, EH Bildu, the PNV, and also the BNG and Coalición Canaria will be repeated. Therefore, the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the monarchy in Congress will be incomplete: initially, only the PSOE and PP will attend, while the rest of the parliamentary spectrum will be absent.

How can we combat the global climate of regression in terms of rights and freedoms? Advances achieved over decades are at risk from the offensive of a reactionary populism that increasingly dictates the agenda and public debates. We are seeing this in Trump's United States and throughout Europe. Catalonia and Spain are no exception. It is in this context that the Spanish government's intention to protect the right to abortion within the Constitution must be understood. But is this a genuine movement or a maneuver to seek a clash with the right? Former minister Irene Montero (Podemos) has been quick to denounce the alleged maneuver by the PSOE to use women's rights for a purely partisan self-interest operation.

The same week that the mammogram scandal in Andalusia escalated to the point of causing a crisis in Moreno Bonilla's government, Isabel Díaz Ayuso opened another confrontation with Alberto Núñez Feijóo, inviting the left to "go get an abortion somewhere else," that is, outside of Madrid. Ayuso's words, in language very similar to that of anti-abortion Catholic groups, have been surprising because they represent a change in the discourse of the Madrid president, who until now aligned herself with the party's more liberal theses and even distanced herself when she defended the right to abortion for minors. Her pronouncement forced Feijóo to issue a statement clarifying the party's position, which is to guarantee the right to abortion in accordance with the law.

In 2024, 106,172 voluntary terminations of pregnancy were reported to the State, a figure that represents a 3% increase compared to the previous year and a record in the history of this benefit, which this year celebrates forty years. In these four decades, there have been attempts to reduce the criteria, and in the 2011 PP reform, abortions for young people between the ages of sixteen and eighteen were conditioned by parental authorization. However, in 2023, the Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez passed a modification in which returned autonomy to minors Furthermore, it eliminated the imposed three days of reflection before abortion, which met the long-standing demand of feminists who criticized the measure for infantilizing women. However, none of the amendments have managed to end the territorial inequalities in access to abortion, a right guaranteed in the health services portfolio, nor the dependence on the private sector. Some regional governments also refuse to open the mandatory registry of objecting doctors, which is useful for planning teams and ensuring that no center is neglected due to a lack of professionals.