The Government of the Junta de Castilla y León, made up of PP and Vox, has decided this Thursday to "inadmit" the requirement of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, in which the latter asked the regional president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, to refrain from implementing an anti-abortion protocol.
This supposed protocol is "non-existent", said Carlos Fernández Carriedo, spokesman for the Board, so the request is rejected due to "the non-existence of the objective it is about".
In his opinion, the only thing that has occurred in this matter are "political statements completely unrelated to the approval of regulations", which is how he described the official announcement made a week ago by Vice President Juan García Gallardo (Vox).
But, at the same time, Fernández Carriedo has confirmed that the new care measures for pregnant women announced at that press conference last week —offering women to listen to the fetal heartbeat in the first weeks and having a 4D ultrasound— continue: They will not be mandatory, but they will be available to doctors so that they can decide whether to apply them.
It is, he said, an "improvement of benefits in the health field", not an anti-abortion protocol.
"Professionals have training and will be able to apply them in the clinical cases they consider and with the best of their knowledge", he remarked, thus leaving the ball in the doctors' court.
Last Thursday, Vice President García-Gallardo assured at a press conference, with the logo of the Junta and accompanied by the Government spokesman himself, that doctors in Castilla y León were going to be obliged to offer women who have decided to abort two new services: listening to the fetal heartbeat and a 4D ultrasound (although they could choose to use these services or not).
This new offer, presented as part of a plan to "promote the birth rate and support families", raised a colossal political commotion that has led the Board, and the national directorates of PP and Vox, to give different versions and even contradictory for seven days.
This Thursday, Fernández Carriedo has insisted that "the protocol for people who request the voluntary termination of pregnancy will not be modified",
"Nothing is going to be published" that could imply "a coercion to the woman."
In other words, there is no new protocol as such, although there is a set of measures, included in that press release from last Thursday, which "guides", according to the spokesman, "the path" that the regional government wants to "build ”.
The minutes of the Governing Council of the Board last week, released this Thursday, does not actually include any mention of these new benefits or that they were approved or discussed that day, but Carriedo presented the plan that way during the press conference : "These are measures brought to the attention of the Governing Council by both the Vice President and the Ministry of Health, who have worked together in this field, and whose application will be implemented in the health field by the Ministry of Health".
🔴 The Minister of Economy and Finance and spokesman, Carlos Fdez. Carriedo, appears at a press conference after the Governing Council
📺 Also follow him on https://t.co/8KiW6TcFn2 https://t.co/XKhWvsAuE8
– Junta de Castilla y León (@jcyl) January 19, 2023
Fernández Carriedo has appeared before the press at the end of the first meeting of the Castilian and Leonese Government after the controversy.
The spokesman has been bombarded with questions about the anti-abortion protocol and has insisted, in response, that the requirement of the central Executive will be "inadmissible" because the matter is "non-existent" because there is no modification of the protocol.
What's more: he has defended that it has been the legal services of the Board that have reported in favor of this decision.
In his opinion, Pedro Sánchez "intends to rely on political statements completely unrelated to the approval of regulations, the issuance of acts or resolutions or any type of legal instrument whose existence is flatly denied."
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Feijóo maximizes the tension with Vox and leaves the break in Castilla y León in his hands
For Castilla y León, the action of the central government is understood from "a torticous and spurious will" because "proactively and immediately" the community, through its president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, and its head of Health, Alejandro Vázquez, already " They had responded to the government's requests.
Carriedo believes that the Executive has sought a "political controversy" to maintain "an inter-administrative public conflict for political purposes due to the pre-electoral moment in which it occurs."
The inadmissibility of the requirement has surprised the central government, which has asked the Board for "rigor".
President Pedro Sánchez himself, during his press conference after the summit with the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron in Barcelona, has been blunt: "The requirement must be answered," he asserted.
Hours before, the government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, had elaborated on that argument from Seville: “From the purest administrative concept, a requirement cannot be inadmissible.
I hope that for the sake of the loyal relationship and cooperation that must exist between the different administrations, they take charge of responding to the requirement, which is a formal step”.
The also Minister of Territorial Policy has urged Castilla y León "to clarify what was really agreed" in the Governing Council last Thursday,
Jose Marcos
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For his part, the regional socialist leader, Luis Tudanca, has reproduced on networks the press release of the Board last Thursday, with all the measures of what he has called "new anti-abortion protocol."
Last Thursday, February 12, the Junta de Castilla y León announced a new anti-abortion protocol in great detail.
It was this and its content is still posted on the official website.
This is the harsh reality.
https://t.co/qbMjsI3ac4 THREAD 1/5 pic.twitter.com/NPNYlgzCeT
— Luis Tudanca (@luistudanca) January 19, 2023
The spokesman for the Government of Castilla y León has insisted time and time again that nothing changes, that "only new benefits were agreed for pregnant women in the health system to improve it" but "nothing is changed" and much less violates current legislation on abortion.
The Ministry of Health, has said, intends to improve benefits, but "the protocol for people who request the voluntary termination of pregnancy will not be modified."
"We are not going to force pregnant women, we are not going to force health professionals... the protocols are not going to be modified," insisted the also Minister of Economy and Finance.
However, he has not explained how the health workers and pregnant women who have these new benefits at their service will know.
"Castilla y León has good public services and we must continue to improve them together with the benefits of the health field in a context of compliance with current national legislation, compliance with the current portfolio of services and current protocols in the case of voluntary interruption of the pregnancy.
The leading role corresponds to the professionals and the pregnant women”, the regional spokesperson remarked, leaving it to the Health Department how to “advance on this issue”, that is, when and how to make the new resources available to doctors.
So, why was a press release made announcing the measures on the fetal heartbeat and the 4D ultrasound? Journalists have repeatedly asked him.
"Perhaps we should have established a procedure and not a protocol," the spokesman conceded, although he has assured that the press release was "led by the Ministry of Health."
He has also been questioned about why he remained silent while García-Gallardo made the announcement and did not then explain this morning.
"I was wrong, I am willing to learn," he said.
The press release, in any case, "is still valid."
From @jcyl we do not admit the requirement of the Government of the Nation as there has not been any agreement that violates the legislation.
We demand that Sánchez rectify and abandon his policy of harassment of #CastillayLeón.
We will not allow attacks on our land.
– Alfonso F. Manueco (@alferma1) January 19, 2023
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