Spanish doctors draw up advice on ethics of virginity certificates

Concerns that requests from Muslim immigrants for medical certificates of virginity could soon become common have led the conservative party Partido Popular to propose a new law in the parliament of Andalucia.

The party wants Andalucia's health department to warn doctors that virginity certificates are an invasion of a patient's privacy and that “doctors must preserve [such privacy] as guaranteed by the Spanish constitution.”

Ms Esperanza Oña, the Partido Popular's health coordinator in Andalucia—the Spanish region with the greatest Muslim population—said that the different customs of immigrants to Andalucia might cause problems.

While it was essential to ensure harmonious and respectful cohabitation, she argued, a respect for different ideas, creeds, and cultures could never justify sex discrimination. Last week the party urged the Andalusian government to make it illegal for …