Today the new sick leave included in the reform of the abortion law approved in February come into force: due to voluntary or involuntary interruption of pregnancy, leave from the 39th week of gestation and leave for disabling menstruation.
In all three, the subsidy will be received from the first day of sick leave, unlike other types of temporary disability, where remuneration begins from the fourth day.
From the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SEGO) they explain to Efe that the people who will be able to take advantage of this last permit will be limited, since the norm establishes that the leave for disabling menstruations can only be requested by patients diagnosed with secondary dysmenorrhea.
Specifically, the abortion reform recognizes for the first time "the situation of disability derived from dysmenorrhea generated by a previously diagnosed pathology", that is, the existence of a painful menstruation that does not allow the performance of daily activities as long as it has been accredited by a doctor and it is a "secondary dysmenorrhea".
This type of dysmenorrhea is that associated with pathologies such as endometriosis, fibroids, adenomyosis or other ailments such as pelvic inflammation, endometrial polyps, polycystic ovaries or difficulty in the outflow of menstrual blood.
This is how the president of SEGO, Txantón Martínez-Astorquiza, explains it, who points out that between 15% and 20% of women suffer from primary dysmenorrhea, that is, menstrual pain for no recognized reason. "We suspect that it may be caused by an increase in prostaglandins, because when the uterus ruptures to expel the endometrium it hurts, due to contractions during the period or due to the passage of blood and endometrial material, but we don't know." concrete.
These women would be left without leave, despite the fact that "many times this primary dysmenorrhea is as painful or as disabling as the secondary ones", in the words of Martínez-Astorquiza.
For this reason, the president of SEGO proposes that the leaves for disabling menstruation be managed by a gynecologist, who performs the "pertinent tests" on patients who suffer from this ailment and, if they do not improve with treatment, can offer them the permission.
With regard to sick leave after having undergone a voluntary termination of pregnancy or having suffered a miscarriage, Martínez-Astorquiza points out that these were already being granted, even if it was for common and non-specific contingencies.
