Castilla y León to implement pro-life measures to prevent abortions, such as listening to heartbeats.

The website Council of Castilla y Leon implement “pro-life” and community birth promotion measures to reinforce EU action. psychological care for pregnant mothers, a protocol that allows parents to listen to the heartbeat of the fetus, offer a 4D ultrasound. which complements the three conventions currently envisaged, and protect conscientious objection health professionals.

This was announced on Thursday by the vice-president of the regional executive, Juan Garcia-Gallardo, after the announcement of these measures at the meeting of the Board of Governors.

García-Gallardo pointed out that this is a agreement “negotiated and agreed” with the regional ministry of health. and which involves the development of the government agreement between the PP and Vox, the far right, signed on March 10, particularly with regard to points 12 and 13 for support for families and the promotion of the birth rate.

Thus, the new measures that have been approved on the instructions of the councilor, Alejandro Vázquez, and which have been communicated to the Council this Thursday, are the following mandatory offer for the professional, whose “will tell the woman that she has these three possibilities” (psychosocial care, fetal heartbeat and 4D ultrasound), while their use or non-use will be a voluntary decision of the woman. “She won’t be forced to listen to her baby’s heartbeat if she doesn’t want to. » García-Gallardo pointed out.

In particular, it will guarantee psychosocial care to all mothers “who need it” through a Sacyl psychologist, a service that will be voluntary for women but “imperative for professionals”, who must offer this service and the rest of the measures adopted by the regional administration, and which aims to that they “benefit from all the support they need to approach pregnancy in the best conditions and feel supported”, to allow them to choose between the “natural and appropriate” decision to continue the pregnancy and the “natural and appropriate” decision to continue the pregnancy. “social tragedy” of abortion, which leaves “a mark on women” and involves “drama”.

Autonomous administration will provide psychological assistance The emotional needs of the pregnant woman will be met through access to the care of a clinical psychologist, for which a primary care referral procedure mental health teams for the preferential care of people who need it.

Preferential care

García-Gallardo and Junta spokesman Carlos Fernández-Carriedo both pointed out that the sPsychological assistance will be reinforced within the Community public health system in order to ensure that pregnant women who request it receive “preferential care”.

In this regard, Fernández Carriedo clarified that the financial endowment to implement this service will depend “to a large extent” on its use, since a priori it is “difficult to quantify”. “It is important to provide an adequate service beyond its cost,” stressed the spokesperson, who insisted that a “reinforcement” of care would be carried out.

The second of these measures is the fetal heart rate protocol and cardiac recording, something “optional and complementary” to the three mandatory ultrasounds that are currently being carried out and which would be carried out between the sixth and ninth week of pregnancy, so that before any decision, they can “listen to the heartbeat of their child”.

Make a “much more conscious” decision is the objective of another “complementary” technique to the three classic ultrasounds, such as 4D ultrasound, so that parents can see the video “in real time” with “the head, hands, feet or fingers of the unborn child”.

The vice-president of the Junta defended that the heart rate monitoring, number of beats per minute, is a way to assess the the well-being of the fetus, both during pregnancy and during childbirth, and it is necessary to record it in all prenatal ultrasounds performed. In this regard, he recalled that the Doppler technique is common in daily clinical practice, “very easy to perform and available in all ultrasound scanners”.

In this sense, he pointed out that heart rate monitoring “helps monitor fetal problems, such as growth retardation or alterations in the amount of amniotic fluid”, as well as maternal risk factors in high-risk pregnancies, such as “hypertension or diabetes” during pregnancy, as well as the importance of the birth of a ” number of children”, which is “essential for survival.

4D ultrasound

As far as 4D ultrasounds are concerned, it is a complementary ultrasound technique not a substitute for standardized ultrasound pregnancy monitoring studies, which “may offer advantages for the ultrasound evaluation of practitioners”, because it “allows better visualization of the fetus, as well as a better evaluation of the heart, which allows earlier detection of congenital heart diseases”.

Considering the “fundamental right to conscientious objection for professionals”, Castilla y León will ensure, as its vice-president has pointed out, that it is respected and will send a “clear message” that “blacklists” of objectors “will not be established”, after accusing the Spanish government to intend to implement them with some of its announced measures.

Juan García-Gallardo emphasized that it is a matter of “continue with the current situation”. in this area, in compliance with current data protection rules and the law that provides for the objection of professionals, after warning that the latest reforms at national level “go in the opposite direction”.

These measures, as the Vice-President pointed out, are intended to ensure that “all women who want to continue their pregnancy”. can count on “all the support of the Junta” and thus try to prevent the termination of pregnancies, which in 2021 increased by more than seven percent in the region, as he said, compared to 2020, a year marked by containment measures and restrictions on mobility resulting from the pandemic.

García-Gallardo pointed out that 70 of these abortions performed were performed on mothers who had already terminated their pregnancies. “up to three times”, after which he condemned that if these measures “are useful so that a single affected child is not aborted”, will compensate for any “negative” consideration of “being in a government”.

In any case, the Junta stressed that health professionals will issue “appropriate treatment and medical care” to women who need it before and after undergoing an abortion.

Regarding the entry into force of these measures, García-Gallardo assured that they will be implemented “immediately”. short term “, noting that the fetal heartbeat technique can be applied ‘in all hospitals in the Community and 4D ultrasound ‘in most’ of them.