ROME — The woman was still woozy from anesthesia when Italian police interrogated her shortly after she had had an abortion. Then they confiscated the fetus.
In Spain, police have swept into clinics, hauled away cartons of medical records and questioned dozens of women who had terminated their pregnancies, sometimes showing up at their homes, to their great mortification.
In Italy and Spain, two of Europe's most predominantly Roman Catholic countries, opponents of abortion are finding new ways to challenge laws and use the issue to influence national elections, a generation after most citizens thought the issue was resolved.
Spurred on by the church, antiabortion activists have staged demonstrations and circulated petitions, gathering thousands of names. On the other side of the debate, thousands of women have turned out in demonstrations to demand that laws allowing the termination of pregnancy be protected.
When it came to power four years ago, Spain's socialist government made liberal social reform a hallmark of its administration and promised legislation to expand access to abortion.
But by the time it ran for reelection last month, it had dropped abortion from its platform as Spanish bishops all but directed citizens to vote against candidates who didn't oppose it.
In the campaign for Italian elections next Sunday, abortion has emerged unexpectedly as a major issue. One particularly vocal political figure, a conservative newspaper editor and former government minister, is running for parliament on a single point: ending abortion.
Thirty years ago, Italy legalized abortion-on-demand for pregnancies up to 12 weeks, and up to 24 weeks when there are abnormalities in the fetus or the health of the woman is in danger.
Spain legalized abortion in 1985; women can terminate a pregnancy up to 12 weeks in case of rape, 22 weeks if the fetus is malformed and at any time if a doctor certifies grave risk to the woman's physical or psychological health.
The vast majority of abortions in Spain have been performed under this last category, and critics allege that the provision is abused. Police questioning women who have had abortions often ask whether they really saw a psychiatrist or doctor to attest they were at risk.
The issue made headlines when a Danish journalist using a hidden camera taped a doctor in Barcelona apparently agreeing to end her pregnancy in its 26th week, merely on her demand.
