The doctor, Carlos Morin, and six other medical personnel were arrested, the chain of clinics Morin owns was shut down, and at least 40 of his patients (some of whom underwent the procedure five years ago) were questioned by the Civil Guard.
After that incident late last year, the local governments of Madrid and Barcelona, which are more conservative than the national administration, launched, or at least permitted, a crackdown on clinics in a bid to find out whether illegal late-term abortions were being performed.
Clinics have been subjected to dozens of surprise inspections, even those that had passed the requirements for licensing, according to the association that represents the facilities.
"It is harassment, a political persecution," said Empar Pineda, spokeswoman for one of the targets, Madrid's Isadora clinic.
At the clinic, which is named for Isadora Duncan, surveillance cameras keep watch outside as women and a few men fill the waiting rooms. The facility, a busy provider of abortions as well as sexual health services, finds its windows smashed or its walls smeared with graffiti a couple of times a year.
More than 25 women who received abortions at the clinic have been interrogated by police, and the clinic was forced to turn over the medical files of at least 50 patients.
Late last month, the clinic's director and two of its doctors were questioned on suspicion of performing illegal late-term abortions, which the clinic denies.
At one point, an inspector required the clinic to remove aborted fetuses, normally disposed of according to stringent regulations, in a hearse.
Civil Guard officers have turned up at the homes of some patients to question them, a mortifying experience because many women do not tell their families. And many women don't know whether they're being questioned as witnesses or suspects.
"We can no longer give guarantees of airtight confidentiality," Pineda said. "There is a lot of fear, precaution, a sense of vulnerability."
Contrary to popular perception, nearly 90% of abortions in Spain are performed in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with fewer than 2% occurring after 21 weeks, Pineda said, citing Health Ministry statistics.
Of all the trouble clinics face these days, Pineda said, the biggest "slap in the face" came when the Socialist Party reneged on promises to expand access to abortion. A party official, Elena Valenciano, said the Socialists already had an ugly fight with the political right and the Roman Catholic Church on their hands, so it made sense "not to touch" a law that met European standards and "functions reasonably well."
