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The silent epidemic: Abuse against Spanish women rises during lockdown

The silent epidemic: Abuse against Spanish women rises during lockdown

CLARA-LAEILA LAUDETTE FEWER Spanish women were killed by their partner or ex-partner in 2020 than in previous years, but that statistic masks a rise in gender-based violence as COVID lockdowns left victims confined with their abusers, rights groups and officials say. Emails to abuse helplines soared nearly six-fold in April, the first full month of Spain's lockdown. "Control-based violence - which doesn't murder, but is insidious and devastating - grew, because violent partners already had women under their physical control," Victoria Rosell, the ministry's top official on gender abuse issues, told reporters on Wednesday. In 2020 overall, calls to the…
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Spanish women fight for control of childbirth as COVID-19 curbs rights

Spanish women fight for control of childbirth as COVID-19 curbs rights

LAURA MANNERING AS she struggled through painful labour contractions, Spanish nurse Teresa pleaded with doctors not to perform a caesarean section on her. But offering no explanation, they did it anyway. Teresa, 40, who asked not to give her real name, found out later they had operated because she had COVID-19 - triggering a hospital protocol that said most women who had tested positive for the disease should have caesareans. Traumatised and suffering nightmares, Teresa has sought psychological help and feels unable to return to her job at the public hospital in northern Spain where she gave birth seven months…
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