Spain: abortion rate

The number of abortions performed per thousand women in Spain reached 12.5 in 2011, the maximum value recorded in the study period. From 2011 to 2016 there was a gradual decline in the abortion rate, dropping to 10.4 abortions per thousand women. However, there has been an increase in the rate of abortions since then, reaching 11.5 per thousand women in 2019. An exception was observed in 2020 when this figure decreased. In that year, Catalonia was the Spanish region with the highest abortion rate, followed by Asturias, and the Balearic Islands, all of them with more than 11 abortions performed per thousand women. In contrast, the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla had an abortion rate slightly over two per thousand women.

Teenage abortion rates

In 2020, the age group that registered the highest abortion rate was that of women from 20 to 24 years old, with more than 15.8 voluntary abortions performed per thousand women. The abortion rate in women under 20 amounted to 7.4 abortions per thousand women, the second-lowest rate after that of women over 40 years. In addition, the abortion rate in teenage women has generally decreased in the past few years, dropping from 13.7 in 2011 to 7.4 in 2020.

Attitudes towards abortion

According to a survey performed in 2019 on the attitudes towards abortion in Spain, 51 percent of the population believed that abortion was acceptable or completely acceptable, while 31 percent considered it unacceptable or completely unacceptable. Nevertheless, the acceptance of abortion depended greatly on the circumstances. While 90 percent of respondents deemed abortion acceptable when the mother's health was at risk, only 50 percent considered it so when the mother wished to terminate the pregnancy without any medical reason or when the pregnancy was not the result of rape.