The report elaborated by the Committee of Experts to advise on the voluntary termination of pregnancy (VTOPI) released yesterday by the Ministry of Equality compiles most key aspects and terms of the proposal issued by the Opinion Group of the Bioethics and Law Observatory (OBD), of the University of Barcelona, located at the Parc Científic de Barcelona, in April of last year in a document on VPI available on line at the OBD's website.

In submitting this document the OBD aimed to actively participate in the social debate surrounding the subject and to propose the amendment of the currently in force law on abortion so as to “put an end to the current legal unease regarding the distorted application of the legislation in force which is outdated with today’s social reality”, explained María Casado, director of the OBD and holder of the UNESCO Bioethics Chair of the UB.

In the document, the OBD proposed that the autonomy of women and their decision capacity in this regard be respected, that VTOP be considered and treated as one more health procedure, and that the conditions under which the pregnancy ought to be terminated be clear and accessible, through the establishment of a new law setting forth time limitations to carry out the procedure, as in most countries of the European Union.

In conformity with these considerations, the OBD proposed that women freely be allowed to have an abortion during the first fourteen weeks of pregnancy– which is the exact time limit proposed by the Committee of Experts who elaborated the report at the request of the Ministry–; as well as the possibility to extend the said time period to the twenty second week of pregnancy in cases where there is serious danger to the pregnant woman’s physical or mental health or when foetal malformations exist, two indications and a time limitation that the Committee of Experts recommend.

In addition, the document written by the OBD suggested that young women over the age of 16 be able to undergo an abortion without the consent of their parents or legal guardians, for as long as their mental maturity to make a decision of such nature be demonstrated, a consideration that the advisory committee includes in its report. According to the experts, this change in legislation could be aided by sex and human reproduction education policies including measures to make birth control readily available, especially for the most vulnerable groups, as recommended by the OBD.

The Opinion Group of the Bioethics and Law Observatory was created in 1996 to address the need to analyze, from a scientific and multidisciplinary approach, the ethical, social and legal implications of biotechnologies, as well as the biomedical problems derived from differing convictions and opinions, thus promoting discussions and guiding debates to facilitate specific action proposals.

With this objective at its core, it has already elaborated several Documents on current topics for which there is no unanimous opinion in society or in the scientific communities involved, which has required identifying the problems, contrasting different points of view and proposing consensus recommendations.