The Supreme Court orders Ayuso to open the registry of abortion objectors

BarcelonaThe High Court of Justice of Madrid has ordered the Community of Madrid to begin "immediately" the procedures for the creation of the registry of objectors for voluntary pregnancy interruptions, a list mandatory by law and approved by the Interterritorial Council (with the presence of all autonomous communities). The minutes of the eighth section of the contentious-administrative chamber of the court is a new step in the tug-of-war that the government of the popular Isabel Díaz Ayuso maintains with the ministry of Mónica García in resisting the creation of the registry of professionals who refuse to perform abortions. In fact, the judges support the precautionary measures requested by the ministry.

The court specifies that although the precautionary measure does not imply the immediate creation of the registry by the Community of Madrid, it does impose the obligation to initiate the necessary administrative procedures to draw it up and approve it, in compliance with current regulations. However, it justifies the decision as a way to "combat the passivity" of the Madrid administration, as it understands that there is a "risk of delay" and that Ayuso's government is trying to "prolong indefinitely" the preparation of the list.

The Community of Madrid is the only autonomy that has rebelled against the obligation to draw up a registry of health professionals who object to abortion, in the same line as has been done for the provision of euthanasia, and which Ayuso has complied with without problems. The registry for abortion is a private list, to which patients do not have access and which is used with the sole purpose that the centers can know the situation of their professionals when planning shifts. The objective is that the right to objection does not clash with the right that women have to abort freely.

Given the refusal of the Madrid government to comply with the law, the Ministry of Health filed a lawsuit through the judicial route, in a tug-of-war between the two administrations. In a appearance in the Assembly of Madrid, the Madrid president reiterated that she did not intend to approve the registry because she considers that it only has the intention of "pointing out" doctors, and she said to the left-wing deputies: "Go to have an abortion somewhere else".