Making abortion visible in Spain on Wikipedia

DISCLOSURE
# abortion, women's health

By Maria Sefidari Huici [Raystorm]

With the aim of promoting a better understanding of the right to abortion in Spain, from Wikiesfera we launched last March a campaign with which we seek highlight in Wikipedia the information related to this topic that we consider crucial. We also did it coinciding with the anniversary of the Organic Law on Sexual and Reproductive Health and on the Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy It turned 14 years old since its approval in 2010.

We believe that it is essential that the information on abortion in Spain in Wikipedia is well developed because this guarantees the access to evidence-based information on a fundamental human right. Documenting this topic also helps raise awareness of the importance of public reproductive health services adequate, strengthens the defence of the rights to bodily autonomy, reduces stigma and disinformation, and encourages an informed and constructive debate. All together empowers us women to make informed decisions about our health It contributes to the improvement of public policies.

> What has the campaign consisted of?

This initiative has consisted of several phases to facilitate the visibility and public understanding of the right to abortion in Spain from various perspectives. Starting with a request on social networks to release images about the demonstrations on abortion in Spain, we managed to generate an initial interest around the topic and prepare the ground for the next stages of the campaign.

The next phase involved the creation of 20 articles and a navigation template on Spanish Wikipedia dedicated exclusively to abortion in Spain, which are added to the generic article that already existed. These new articles cover a wider range of aspects, from legal and political information to historical and legal considerations, with a specific focus on abortion as a public health issue for women. reflect the disparity in how this right has been applied in practice by territory. For this, each community and autonomous city in Spain has been represented in an individual article, providing a detailed look at the territorial level. Thus, 17 articles were written on each of the Autonomous Communities, 2 articles on the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla, and one on the abortion of Spanish women abroad.

From that moment on, we have started with a third and final Disclosure phase where the goal is to share newly created information. What we are looking for is, on the one hand, to expand access to referenced and verifiable information on a subject that affects a large number of women in Spain and around the world, and on the other, to show clearly the differences in the application of a fundamental law in different parts of the State.

> Is the right to abortion guaranteed in Spain?

From the published articles, we can see that in Spain, history and regional policies reflect significant disparities in access to abortion, where some regions such as Asturias were pioneers in the implementation of non-punishable abortions, while others such as Palencia, Segovia, Ávila, Zamora and Soria did not perform abortions between 2017 and 2021 because doctors in public hospitals claimed to be conscientious objectors to this practice.

These differences force women from regions such as Toledo and La Rioja to seek services outside their areas.. Meanwhile, initiatives such as the introduction of pharmaceutical abortions in public centers in Catalonia highlight progressive movements to increase accessibility. However, lack of training and funding constraints highlight persistent gaps in the right to reproductive health, as demonstrated by the case of Antonia Correa in Murcia, which led to the recognition of the violation of rights due to having to travel to access an abortion.

All these elements underline the complexity and urgency of improving access to abortion services in Spain, ensuring that all aspects of reproductive health are accessible and respect women’s rights.

> Technical and curious facts about the articles

If we were to convert these articles to PDF format, the longest article would be Abortion in Madrid, with 33 pages, followed by Abortion in Catalonia, with 30 pages. All newly created items would add up 389 pages.
The shorter articles, Abortion in Ceuta and Abortion in Melilla, would be the same length as the existing article on Abortion in Spain (9 pages), although the first two have almost twice as many bytes for having more tables.
In total, the 20 articles newly created on abortion have 2,300 references, with an average of 115 references per article. The article with the most references is Abortion in Madrid, with 206. To compare, the article that already existed, Abortion in Spain, has 69 references.
In total, the 20 newly created items include 199 tables with data, with an average of 9.95 tables per article.
The total number of new bytes added to Wikipedia is over 2 million (2,040,928 bytes). Articles from Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia and Andalusia all have more than 130,000 bytes, with Madrid close to 200,000.

> Next steps

As part of our fight to combat the gender gap in Wikipedia, in Wikiesfera we are committed to go beyond the creation of biographies of reference women in different fields and addressing critical issues related to women's health and rights. The campaign on abortion in Spain is just one example of how, in our community of publishers, we are working to correcting knowledge gaps and promoting equity in one of the most important knowledge platforms in the world.

We intend to bring information about abortion in Spain to an even wider audience by seeking to translate the articles created into several languages. This additional step will ensure that the information is accessible to an even larger audience, thus contributing to an greater awareness and understanding of such a relevant and significant topic.

We invite you to join this collaborative effort to promote inclusion and equity in Wikipedia and society at large.

Making abortion visible in Spain on Wikipedia

> What has the campaign consisted of?

> Is the right to abortion guaranteed in Spain?

> Technical and curious facts about the articles

> Next steps

> List of articles