In the end, after a long involvement in the PP due to Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s rebellion to comply with the register of abortion objectors, Génova ended up bowing to the position of the president of the Community of Madrid. Ayuso won the internal game, forcing the PP leadership to change its position and protect him, despite, in doing so, admitting that a regional president refuses to respect a state law. For more than a month, the PP has been stressed internally over this issue, always divisive for the popular party, and finally, this Monday, Génova supported Ayuso in her decision to violate the legal provision that obliges her to create a register of doctors who oppose abortion.
Responsible for this role was the deputy secretary of Finance of the PP, Juan Bravo, who acted as spokesperson this Monday in the press conference after the meeting of the popular steering committee. Bravo had written the response, very measured, and repeated it twice when journalists asked him about Ayuso’s legal rebellion.
The deputy secretary gave protection to Ayuso by arguing that, when there are “doubts” or “differences” on the application of a law, “we must go to court”. “The laws are applied or modified. One of the things must be done. And when there are doubts, it must be the judicial process that resolves them”, defended Bravo, in line with the Madrid government, which claims that it is the courts that oblige it to respect the law and, where appropriate, to create the register of objectors. “Laws are either changed or enforced,” Bravo later said, asked again. “And when there are disagreements, you have to go to court to make a decision.”
There are, in reality, no doubts about the application of the law, which is restrictive in the creation of these medical records of objecting doctors. This is what the 2023 law provides, the protocol of which was approved by the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System in December 2024.
But in this somewhat convoluted way, Génova supports the refusal of the government of the Community of Madrid to comply with the register. Strictly speaking, it was not even Ayuso, but the Ministry of Health, that brought the case to court, precisely because of the refusal of the Regional Executive to comply with a legal provision. “Go elsewhere to have an abortion!”, the Madrid leader even said in a control session of the Madrid Assembly, questioned by the opposition who accused her of hindering the voluntary interruption of abortion.
What is striking is the path that the PP leadership has taken to get to this point. Just over a month ago, in early October, Alberto Núñez Feijóo was forced to make a public statement in response to the controversy. Feijóo then distanced himself from his Madrid baroness – without citing her – underlining that, if he comes to government, he will guarantee abortions “according to the laws”, which would therefore imply respect for that register of objectors. This was interpreted because Feijóo’s letter was made public in the context of the objector registration controversy.
But shortly after, on October 13, Feijóo was already showing signs of clarifying his position and moving closer to that of Ayuso. In an interview on Antena 3, the PP leader defended the need to respect current legislation – which Ayuso decided not to do -; That is, objector registers are created. But he quickly added that he aspires to change the law to introduce an “opposed” list, should he be sworn in as president after the next general election. “What is a woman interested in: knowing which doctors can assist her or is she interested in knowing which doctors are not willing to treat her?” Feijóo said in that interview.
This idea clashed with what happens with any health service and with what the PP communities did, except Madrid, which conformed to the register. Indeed, Ayuso’s anti-abortion challenge caused discomfort in the rest of the PP autonomies, who followed the law. “He leaves others with their asses in the air,” they complained in the PP territories.
Now, the question is how the rest of the PP communities who complied with the register will judge the fact that, after all, the popular leadership ended up supporting the Madrid president’s refusal to comply with the law. Either way, Ayuso wins.
