Spain to expand medical abortion access to primary care centers

Spain’s Ministry of Health is moving to allow medical abortions to be performed in local primary care health centers rather than exclusively in hospitals or private clinics. Health Minister Mónica García announced the plan to ensure women can access services through trusted primary care physicians, reducing the need for travel and improving continuity of care.

To implement this, the government intends to modify the royal decree regulating health center practices and update the technical data sheet for mifepristone to authorize its use outside of hospital settings. The Minister expressed optimism that even regions governed by the People's Party (PP) might support the measure, citing Cantabria as a precedent where a high percentage of abortions are already handled within the public system.

In the Basque Country, the health service Osakidetza is launching a pilot program in October to begin assuming responsibility for pharmacological abortions of fewer than ten weeks of gestation. Currently, approximately 94% of these procedures in the region are referred to private clinics. If successful, Osakidetza aims to implement this service across its entire public network by 2027.